Hershey closes center in California after move to Ogden facility

Hershey closes center in California after move to Ogden facility

By Steven Oberbeck, The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 03/13/2009 09:44:25 PM MDT

The Hershey Co. is closing down its Redlands, Calif., distribution center after having already moved most of its operations to a newly opened 545,000-square-foot facility in Ogden Business Depot.

The shutdown in Redlands is expected to cost that community about 90 jobs.

"We don't talk about company logistics," Hershey spokesman Kirk Saville said Friday. He declined to discuss Hershey's timetable for mothballing its 600,000-square-foot Redlands distribution facility that opened in 2002.

He indicated, however, that relocating to Ogden was part of Hershey's new global distribution plan.

A year ago, Hershey indicated it intended to take the state up on its offer of a $2.6 million incentive to open the distribution center in Ogden, that it estimated at the time would employ more than 120 people.

Hershey, the nation's second-largest candy maker after Mars Inc., will receive the incentive over 10 years as a partial rebate of the taxes the company would normally have paid to the state.

The company's incentive application filed with the Governor's Office of Economic Development (GOED) indicated Hershey planned to spend about $38 million to open the distribution center.

"These are high-paying jobs in a world-recognized company," GOED Executive Director Jason Perry said at the time. "And this is a pretty large-size investment by Hershey."

Steve Waldrip, of The Boyer Co., which helped Hershey secure the property for its Utah distribution center, said the Ogden facility has been operating for a couple of months now.

He said Hershey always indicated the Ogden facility was being developed as a replacement for its Redlands facility. "They looked at their operating costs in California and what they would be in Utah and decided Ogden was the place."

Waldrip pointed out that Southern Classic Food Group, an Alabama-based manufacturers of dressings, sauces and marinades, recently opened in Ogden as well and is supplying the Hershey distribution center with chocolate syrup.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.