Officials: Stop & Shop shift spurs 175 layoffs
C&S Wholesale Grocers is cutting 175 jobs at a Suffield warehouse, after its biggest Connecticut customer is moving distribution back in-house with the promise of adding hundreds of positions to offset the C&S layoff in January.
The New Hampshire-based company reported the layoff last week in a filing with the Connecticut Department of Labor. A C&S Wholesale representative told Hearst Connecticut on Tuesday that affected employees have been offered positions at other C&S facilities, without providing additional details on the Suffield decision.
A Suffield official told the Hartford Courant the company lost a significant chunk of business with Stop & Shop, which is opening its own distribution center in Manchester. C&S has one other Connecticut warehouse, in South Windsor, among more than 30 nationally.
C&S Wholesale revenue hit $25.8 billion last year, according to Forbes, ranking the company the 11th-largest privately held business in the U.S.
Major competitors include US Foods, Sysco and United Natural Foods based in Rhode Island, along with myriad smaller providers. On Monday, GS Foods announced the acquisition of the Wallingford distributor Thurston Foods, which focuses on schools, hospitals and restaurants.
Last March, Stop & Shop parent Ahold Delhaize announced it had taken over operation of a C&S facility near Fall River, Mass., which supplies some 200 Stop & Shop stores in New England. The supermarket chain is the largest in Connecticut, with more than 50 stores.
“The more we control ourselves, we can more control our destiny, and we’re less dependent on third parties,” said Frans Muller, CEO of Ahold, referencing the C&S changes during a midAugust conference call.
“That’s now paying off — and of course in the U.S., logistics and distribution is still stressed: availability of labor, fuel prices, and availability of vehicles. But I think we are potentially better positioned there, because we have a lot of drivers and vehicles under our own management.”
Quincy, Mass.-based Stop & Shop has been holding job fairs in the most competitive Connecticut job market in years, as companies struggle to lure back workers who sat out the COVID-19 pandemic due to health concerns, child care issues or being able to generate sufficient income from unemployment compensation.