Nestlé to trim jobs in Freehold

FREEHOLD — The Nestlé USA Beverage Division has announced that it will restructure its manufacturing facility in Freehold to become a bulk processing factory for soluble coffee and tea products. All retail filling and packaging activity will be consolidated into another Nestlé facility in Waverly, Iowa, beginning in August, according to a press release from the company.

As a result of this action, approximately 25 percent of all positions will be eliminated at the Freehold facility. Severance will be offered to those employees negatively impacted by the restructuring. The total workforce at the Freehold plant on Jerseyville Avenue is currently comprised of 61 salaried and 251 union employees.

"Though this is a difficult decision, it is necessary to strengthen our business and to make the Freehold factory globally competitive by focusing on and optimizing the factory’s core competency, which is freeze-dried coffee and soluble tea production," said Rob Case, president, Nestlé USA Beverage Division. "Many employees as well as their children or other relatives have been with us for years, and we want to ensure manufacturing excellence and strive to have a cost competitive, highly productive and positive work environment for future generations."

The Freehold factory has been in operation for more than 50 years and is Nestlé ’s largest freeze-dried coffee facility. It is also one of many coffee factories within the global Nestlé family that competes for export business. The factory produces Taster’s Choice and Nestea Iced Tea for Nestlé USA as well as other Nestlé markets and Nescafe for export markets around the world.

Headquartered in Glendale, Calif., Nestlé USA has 16,000 employees and sales of $8.1 billion (for 2001) and is part of Swiss-based Nestlé S.A. — the world’s largest food company.