APRIL 3, 2020 — CLOSING LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY BRANCH WITH 38 LAYOFFS
It appears that the Louisville, Kentucky branch was not included in bankruptcy sale of assets to the Dairy Farmers of America and will be closed by April 30, 2020. Layoffs will commence on April 16, 2020. Layoffs include field execution and field service representatives, senior area sales representatives, distribution managers, shipping and warehouse workers, order pickers and plant maintenance mechanics, and other support personnel.
FEBRUARY 18, 2020 — DAIRY FARMERS OF AMERICA OFFERS TO BUY DEAN FOODS FOR $425 MILLION
With few options left for the largest milk producer, Dean Foods, the Dairy Farmers of America announced that it has offered to buy Dean Foods for $425 million pending the approval of the Court and the absence of a better offer. The Department of Justice would also have to agree to the sale.
NOVEMBER 12, 2019 DEAN FOODS FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY — CITES DECLINE IN MILK SALES.
Dean Foods has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy citing the loss of its major customer Walmart and changing consumer tastes which see fewer people drinking milk and milk products.
Dean Foods CEO Eric Berigause has noted, “Despite our best efforts to make our business more agile and cost-efficient, we continue to be impacted by a challenging operating environment marked by continuing declines in consumer milk consumption.”
The company is considering a sale to a marketing cooperative owned by thousands of farmers and known as the Dairy Farmers of America.
In any event, look for additional restructuring, cost cutting, and reductions in headcount.
SEPTEMBER 6, 2018 -- MAYFIELD DAIRY CLOSES
Mayfield Dairy, located in Braselton, Georgia is closing its doors and laying off 100 workers. There was no comment from Dean Foods which is in the process of implementing an enterprise-wide cost productivity plan.
As has been previously reported, Dean has also shuttered Garelick Farms in Lynn, Massachusetts with the loss of 300 jobs.
Original Post...
Changing consumer milk-buying patterns, increased competition, and the loss of a major contract is forcing Dallas, Texas-based Dean Foods, one of the largest dairy companies in the world, to respond with a major restructuring that will lay off hundreds of workers, shutter facilities, and shed hundreds of independent milk suppliers.
Published reports have Dean shutting down seven processing plants in seven states in the next months, with plants located in Kentucky, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota. The latest plants to close are Country Fresh in Livonia, Michigan, Meadow Brook Dairy in Erie, Pennsylvania, and Garelick Farms in Lynn, Massachusetts.
Not only are consumers drinking 28% less milk, but Dean lost a major contract to provide private-label milk to Walmart, the worlds largest grocer. Walmart is vertically integrating their supply chain to lower costs and become a more effective competitor in the grocery space that now includes Amazon and several foreign private-label operations such as Aldi and Trader Joes. Walmart will operate its own state-of-the-art, large-scale dairy processing facility in Fort Wayne, Indiana that will serve hundreds of Walmart and Sam’s Club locations in Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Northern Kentucky.
Dean Food’s CEO Ralph Scozzafava in announcing Dean’s First Quarter (2018) results ...
“As we move forward in 2018, we are focused on executing our commercial agenda and cost productivity initiatives that will drive our strategic plan. We have been successful in driving early results in the administrative area against our enterprise-wide productivity plan with more work to be done. We will now begin the next phase by right-sizing our network to better match volume. We will incur transitory costs as the execution of our plans will lag the exit of specific customer volume and have firm plans in place to remove the fixed costs from our system within this year. We are also implementing plans to mitigate expected headwinds in non-dairy input costs while executing our strategic initiatives.”
Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life or promises for a bright future. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?