Conagra Brands closing Beaver Dam facility, more than 250 to lose jobs

Food company Conagra Brands will close its Beaver Dam Birds Eye food processing facility and warehouse and lay off over 250 people, with all operations ending by early 2025.

The Bird’s Eye facility at 1201 Green Valley Road in Beaver Dam employs 252 people who will lose their jobs as the facility shuts down.  The company — which owns frozen food brand Birds Eye and other well-known product brands like Slim Jim, Orville Redenbacher’s and Hunt’s — said it would close its Beaver Dam location to “improve efficiencies and effectiveness within its supply chain network.”

"We continually evaluate our overall network of food production facilities to ensure that we are operating as effectively and efficiently as possible so we can remain competitive as a company. We have determined that we can continue to meet the needs of the business by making these products in fewer facilities," the company said in a statement to the Journal Sentinel. "This decision is not a reflection of the overall performance of our Beaver Dam team."

In a filing with the state Department of Workforce Development, the company said production operations at the facility will stop on about June 10 and warehouse operations will end by January 2025.

The layoffs will be in phases on or within 14 days of June 10, June 14, Sept. 2, Oct. 4 and Jan. 3, 2025, the filing said. The employees are not unionized and do not have bumping rights.

Employees will receive severance benefits, the company statement said.

The Beaver Dam facility was built in 1972 and became part of the company in 2018, after Conagra acquired former owner Pinnacle Foods, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.

The facility was recently highlighted by the state Department of Workforce Development for its diverse and inclusive hiring practices.