Salad factory closure costs 30 local jobs
The closure of a vegetable processing factory in Nelson has cost 30 people their jobs.
Snap Fresh Foods, operated by United States company Golden State Foods (GSF), closed its McMahon St, Stoke, factory over the weekend. The factory has been producing fresh salads for New Zealand supermarkets since 2010.
GSF Produce Asia Pacific group vice president John Wafer said the decision followed a review of the company’s business model.
‘‘We’ve got three factories at the moment and we’re consolidating to one,’’ he said. ‘‘It was always on the cards that we were going to consolidate and we just needed to work our way through the process which we’ve done, and now was the right time to do it.’’
He said a consultation process with the 30 staff employed at the Stoke factory was resolved on Monday. Only one staff member would be transferring to the company’s primary factory in Manukau, Auckland.
Wafer said the company had been trying to find alternate work with another vegetable business in the Nelson area for staff.
The factory closure also affected a supplier in the Nelson area.
‘‘One of our growers was affected. We’d been in consultation for quite some time. The grower was the entity we bought the business off in the first place.’’
The primary factory would continue to operate at increased capacity, Wafer said.
‘‘We’ve invested quite a lot of money in our primary facility.’’
Another factory in Auckland has also been closed.