More than five decades of snack food production came to an end this week when Frito-Lay closed manufacturing operations at its Rancho Cucamonga facility, eliminating hundreds of jobs in the process.
The plant has been a major employer in the area since opening in 1970, staffing thousands over its 55-year run.
The facility also gained cultural significance as the birthplace of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, which were introduced in 1991, though the origin story has been the subject of litigation.
Frito-Lay is owned by parent company PepsiCo Foods U.S., which confirmed the shutdown of manufacturing operations at the site.
“We are truly grateful for all the support over the last five decades from our Rancho Cucamonga manufacturing team as well as the local community,” the company said in a statement Monday. “We are committed to supporting those impacted through this transition and we are offering pay and benefits to impacted employees.”
The company did not specify how many employees were affected.
Former workers posted on social media that they were given 10 weeks of severance pay.
The abrupt nature of the closure left employees scrambling to figure out their next steps.
“I was supposed to get married this year, now I have to find a new job or at least figure a way to survive,” one laid-off worker said on Reddit.
The Employment Development Department confirmed that Frito-Lay had not filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, with the state, which typically requires employers to give 60 days advance notice of mass layoffs.
The Rancho Cucamonga closure is part of a broader pattern of PepsiCo facility shutdowns. Earlier this year, the company announced the closure of a Frito-Lay plant in Liberty, N.Y., laying off 287 workers, and cut 56 jobs at a warehouse in Maryland.
The closures come as PepsiCo faces declining snack sales. In its most recent earnings call, chief executive Ramon Laguarta said the company was “right-sizing the cost” of its snacks division after Frito-Lay sales volume dropped slightly in the first quarter.
Warehouse, distribution, fleet and transportation services will continue to operate out of the facility.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
