Mars-owned snack brand Nature’s Bakery is set to permanently shut down its manufacturing facility located in Hazelwood, Missouri.
According to a filing with local authorities, production from the Hazelwood plant will be transferred to other unspecified locations.
The facility is expected to operate throughout this year, with plans for a complete shutdown by September 2027.
The filing indicates that approximately 130 employees will be affected as of September 11, with an additional 215 employees set to be laid off on February 26, 2027.
“All Nature’s Bakery employees have been notified of the facility’s permanent closure and their respective employment end dates. All associates can seek alternative positions within Nature’s Bakery and the Mars family of companies,” stated the official notice.
Additionally, it was mentioned that employees who do not secure other roles within Nature’s Bakery or Mars will lose their jobs.
Just Food reached out to Mars for insight regarding the closure’s rationale and the locations and number of other Nature’s Bakery facilities.
In response, a representative from Nature’s Bakery commented, “As we continuously assess our manufacturing footprint and changing business needs, we’ve made the challenging decision to close our Hazelwood manufacturing facility in September 2027.”
“This decision does not reflect the performance of the site or our committed workforce,” they added.
Two years prior, Mars had disclosed intentions to enhance its manufacturing capabilities in the U.S. for its Nature’s Bakery brand.
In January 2024, the company announced an investment of $237 million in a new factory in Salt Lake City, Utah, spanning over 339,000 square feet. Nature’s Bakery confirmed that the facility commenced operations in June of the previous year.
At that time, Nature’s Bakery maintained two operational plants located in Carson City, Nevada, and Hazelwood.
Headquartered in Reno, Nevada, Nature’s Bakery was acquired by Mars in 2020 as part of its Kind snacking division.
Mars initially had a stake in Kind since 2017, which also allowed the company to take control of the U.S. group’s international operations. In November 2020, Mars completed its acquisition, achieving full global ownership of Kind.
In December, the European Commission approved Mars’ $35.9 billion acquisition of Kellanova, a significant deal resulting from Kellogg’s 2023 demerger that stands among the largest transactions in recent packaged food industry history.