As the loss of jobs for cereal maker Kellogg continues, the latest series of layoffs have now been announced in the states of Ohio and Tennessee.
On consecutive days, reports emerged that the breakfast food maker was to axe 250 employees in Sharonville, Ohio, and another 172 in a facility in Memphis, Tennessee.
On May 30, it was reported that Kellogg had sent a letter to Ohio’s employment department on May 26 informing Buckeye State authorities that its Sharonville distribution center would be closing down starting on July 29.
The company reported that 248 workers would be laid off in the Cincinnati suburb.
Only a day later, news broke that Kellogg’s also announced the end of another 172 jobs in Tennessee where its facility in Memphis was to be closed.
The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development was notified on the same day Ohio officials were told of the closure there. Local Tennessee officials were then informed of the impending job loss on May 30, the day before news broke of the packaged food company’s move.
The closures have been part of the plan to eliminate 39 distribution facilities across the country as announced in January by the Michigan-based manufacturer. The new plan is expected to relieve more than 1,000 workers of their job.
Kellogg’s manufactures Eggo frozen waffles, Kashi products, Keebler cookies and crackers, MorningStar Farms vegetarian foods, Pop-Tarts, and Pringles, as well as its many cereal products. But the company has been struggling with a loss of market shares as customers look to healthier food choices.
The closing of the facilities in Ohio and Tennessee are but a small part of the layoffs happening across the country.
Among other announcements, almost 500 were fired in North Carolina, nearly 300 were fired in facilities in New York, and another 219 lost their jobs in Minnesota.
The job losses are far from the cereal maker’s only problem. Last year, it was found that customer confidence in the Kellogg brand name had fallen from 60th to 84th place.
Kellogg also sparked a boycott of its products when it decided to cease advertising with Breitbart News, snubbing Breitbart’s 45,000,000 readers.
Last November, Kellogg claimed that the conservative readers at Breitbart News are not “aligned with our values as a company” and then cut advertising thereby refusing to consider conservatives as worthy customers for its products.
While the decision by Kellogg to cease advertising made virtually no revenue impact on Breitbart.com, it did represent an escalation in the war by leftist companies like Target and Allstate against conservative customers whose values propelled Donald Trump into the White House.
After the cereal maker turned its back on conservative customers, Breitbart News launched its #DumpKelloggs petition, which has been signed by more than 450,000 people.
Finally, according to advertising industry watchdog, Adweek, Kellogg’s decision to pull advertising from Breitbart and the ensuing controversy over the move inflicted long-term damage to the cereal company’s brand online.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston, or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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