Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A.-based wholesale food distributor Harvest Sherwood is closing down all of its warehouses and laying off around 1,500 employees, according to news reports.
The USD 4 billion (EUR 3.8 billion) company distributes to retailers’ bakery, deli, meat, and seafood departments across the U.S., along with foodservice accounts and cruise lines. Major seafood brands Trident Seafoods, Chicken of the Sea, Ocean Beauty Seafoods, Pacific Seafoods, AquaStar, and others are among the suppliers to Harvest Sherwood.
The company announced closures of warehouses in the U.S. states of Ohio, Michigan, Oregon, and Florida, per MDM Distribution Intelligence and Cleveland.com. WARN notices show that 273 employees will be laid off in Maple Heights, Ohio; 255 employees will be laid off in Michigan; 134 employees in Opa-locka, Florida, and 41 in Orlando, Florida; and 96 in Portland, Oregon, among other cities.
Harvest Sherwood ships more than 20 million pounds of food products weekly with a fleet of over 250 trucks, according to the company’s website.
The company has, as of yet, not disclosed the reason for the closure.
Fox 2 Detroit reported local businesses had already been noticing changes at the company. Liberty Food Center Co-Owner Sami Bahoura told the publication the layoffs started “two to three months ago.”
“We heard something about 45 to 50 people gone, and we thought maybe they were trying to clean up the house, but maybe it probably was the start,” Bahoura said. “We seen it down the road, but we didn’t expect this to come fast.”
A spokesperson for the company told the Detroit Free Press the company will now focus on liquidating its assets, closing its facilities, and settling its financial obligations.
