GMCR to close facility in Toronto, Canada

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) has announced it will consolidate all of its Canadian coffee and portion pack production to its Montreal, Quebec facility. The company expects to cease production at its Toronto, Ontario facility by March, 2014 affecting a total of 120 production and production support employees, or approximately 2 per cent of its total workforce, whose positions will be eliminated. “As we continue to grow, we also are assessing the effectiveness of our manufacturing, distribution, and logistics network across our US and Canadian locations,” said Brian P Kelley, President and CEO of GMCR. “We have expanded the footprint of our Montreal facility more than 40 per cent this fiscal year. After careful analysis of facility-specific operational costs and the Toronto facility’s inability to expand to accommodate future growth, it was clear that consolidating our Canadian-based production to our Montreal facility is the right business decision to support our strong and growing presence in Canada.” GMCR will support affected employees through the transition process by offering outplacement services. Following closure of the Toronto facility, GMCR will manufacture all of the licensed, Keurig Brewed K-Cup and Vue packs for use in its Keurig brewers in eight facilities in the US and Canada: Castroville, California; Knoxville, Tennessee; Windsor, Virginia; Essex, Waterbury and Williston, Vermont; Sumner, Washington; and Montreal, Quebec. In addition, the Company has offices and conducts research and development for its beverages and its Keurig Single Cup systems in Waterbury, Vermont and Burlington, Reading and Wakefield, Massachusetts with a small team operating in Asia.