Former Strub’s pickle plant to close

Laval, Que. – Whyte’s Foods Inc. is closing its Brantford, Ont. pickle plant and moving production to its existing facilities in St-Louis-sur-Richelieu and Laval, Que.

Production at the Brantford plant, which produces the full line of Strub’s pickle products, will gradually be phased out, with a complete closure scheduled for late January 2013 when production will move to Quebec.

According to Laval-based Whyte’s, which purchased Strub’s in June, the relocation is the result of an extensive internal review by its management team.

“This was an extremely difficult decision for us to make and announce today as we purchased the Strub’s assets with the goal of expanding our Whyte’s production facilities into Ontario to serve our growing national base of customers,” says Philippe Blondin, vice-president of Procurement for Whyte’s. “After five months of intensive analysis, we have concluded that relocating the production of Strub’s products to our facilities in Quebec would enable us to compete more effectively with foreign competitors.”

The relocation will affect 43 employees currently working at the Brantford plant, although employees will be offered the opportunity to apply for employment in Quebec to fill the expected 40 to 50 new jobs that will be created.