Russell Stover will cut 400 jobs, close Missouri facility but add new jobs in Kansas
Kansas City-based Russell Stover Chocolates will cut 400 jobs across the country, shutter some stores and close several facilities, the company announced Tuesday.
But many of those job losses will be offset by new hires: the candy maker said it will add 300 jobs at plants in Iola, Kansas, Abilene, Kansas, and Corsicana, Texas.
A longtime Kansas City company, Russell Stover in 2014 was acquired by Lindt & Sprüngli AG, the Switzerland-based maker of Lindt and Ghirardelli chocolates. The terms of the cash sale were not disclosed though published reports said the price may have been as high as $1.5 billion.
In a Tuesday news release announcing the changes, the company said it began consolidation efforts with Lindt’s logistics operations in 2018. That process pushed the company to close distribution and fulfillment centers in Butler, Mo., about an hour south of Kansas City, and Cookeville, Tennessee.
The Tennessee and Missouri closures are expected to affect about 30 jobs.
Russell Stover will move work from the Tennessee plant to Texas. Likewise, the 2021 closure of a Montrose, Colorado, plant will increase workloads at the company’s two Kansas factories. Most of the 400 affected jobs will be at the Colorado plant, a company spokesman said.
Last week, Lindt announced it would eliminate about 300 sales and executive jobs, KSHB reported. A corporate spokeswoman for Lindt told The Star at the time that the number of jobs affected by those changes in Kansas City would be in the “low single digits.”
The company plans to close some low-traffic stores, though it did not identify specific locations.
Russell Stover’s changes follow recent layoffs at other major employers in Kansas City. Hallmark Cards earlier this month announced it would eliminate 400 positions, including 325 in Kansas City. In November, health care IT firm Cerner, the metro’s largest private employer, cut 130 jobs from its workforce. It previously cut 255 positions in September.
On Tuesday, the company said it provided employees “significant advanced notice” of facility closures. It also committed to providing severance, continued health care coverage and other benefits for those who work through the closure dates.
Russell Stover, which was founded in 1923, said it had a “strong” fiscal year in 2019. But CEO Andy Deister said the company must keep up with the changing tastes and preferences of customers.
“Just as consumers change their preferred flavor or package, they’re changing the way they shop for our products, and we’re making sure we have the infrastructure to deliver on their expectations,” he said in the news release.
In a note to employees Tuesday, Deister said the company touts “the heritage, brands and capability” necessary to remain competitive in an ever-changing marketplace. He noted the company posted “solid improvement” in top- and bottom-line growth last year.
Lindt & Sprüngli, the corporate parent, on Tuesday reported organic sales growth of 5.4% in North America. In a news release, the company said Russell Stover, Lindt and Ghirardelli all equally contributed to that growth.
“Going forward, we will continue to thrive by pairing our strong foundation with the flexibility to adapt how we go to market,” Deister wrote. “To enable this, we must continue to invest in business, technology, infrastructure and people.”
The CEO said affected employees were encouraged to continue with Russell Stover at its other locations.
“Change is never easy, but it is necessary for healthy, sustainable growth,” he wrote. “Russell Stover is well positioned for success into this next decade, continuing our almost 100-year tradition of producing high quality, delicious American-made chocolates.”
The Star’s Joyce Smith contributed to this story.
This story was originally published January 14, 2020 at 10:49 AM.
