Campbell Soup shuttering Toronto plant, 380 jobs to be lost
by The Canadian Press
The facility has made the company's iconic soups and broths since the Great Depression; production will now shift south of the border
The company said the plant is the oldest in its “thermal” network and cannot be retrofitted competitively. PHOTO: Campbell’s Soup Co.
TORONTO—Campbell Soup Company says it’s shuttering its 87-year-old Toronto manufacturing facility within the next 18 months, impacting 380 jobs, as the food purveyor gets set to relocate it Canadian headquarters to a new location.
The company says the Toronto closure is necessary to improve its operational efficiency, citing a challenging retail environment that has seen volume declines of canned soup in North America.
Campbell says several factors have resulted in excess capacity in its North American supply chain network, and that due to its size and age the Toronto plant cannot be retrofitted in a way that is competitively viable.
The company says soup and broth production at the Toronto facility will be transitioned in phases over the next 18 months to three plants in North Carolina, Ohio and Texas.
The company will shift soup and broth production out of the country over the next 18 months.
Campbell says it will move its current Canadian headquarters and commercial operations at the Toronto facility to a new location in the Greater Toronto Area, which will feature a new food innovation centre.
It says nearly 200 roles from the almost 600 people who work at the Toronto facility will be retained at the new headquarters.
