Montgomery's Butterball Plant To Close In July, Cuts 600 Jobs

MONTGOMERY, IL - Butterball LLC announced Thursday it will close its processing plant in Montgomery and cut about 600 full-time jobs by phasing out production on or about July 17. Once Montgomery closes its 260,000-square-foot facility, Butterball will no longer have processing plants in Illinois.

In a public statement, Butterball COO Jay Jandrain said the plant will be closing "to meet evolving consumer and customer needs and to address changes in market conditions."

Butterball purchased the former Gusto Packing in 2013 and made considerable improvements and expansions to the plant.

“Gusto Packing was a long-time, family owned business and when Butterball purchased the plant and made improvements, we anticipated that they would be operating their business here for many years to come. The employees have been very loyal to this facility for a long time, and the sudden closure comes as a shock to them and to us,” said Village President Matt Brolley in a press release.

While this news comes as unexpected to the community, Jandrain says the Montgomery employees will be offered assistance.

"We are committed to retaining as many of our Montgomery employees as possible, and are committed to offering relocation assistance to any of our team members who have an interest in staying with the company and accept an available position at another location," said Jandrain in a statement.

"In addition, we will be working diligently with leaders across the enterprise and with other resources in the days and weeks ahead to identify and provide opportunities for outplacement and retraining for those affected, and will be seeking support from local and state economic agencies to find a buyer for the facility with the hope of securing new opportunities for the local economy," said Jandrain.

This news comes as a second major hit to the community this year. Recently, Caterpillar Inc. announced it was phasing out production at its Montgomery plant.

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