Kraft To Close WI Cheese Plant

Kraft Foods Inc. plans to close a cheese plant in Waupaca and lay off 120 employees in a cost-cutting move.

WAUPACA, Wis. (AP) — Kraft Foods Inc. plans to close a cheese plant in Waupaca and lay off 120 employees in a cost-cutting move.

The closing is planned for the second quarter of 2013. Workers were told Tuesday of the closing.

The factory was built in 1954 and acquired by Kraft in 1987 for production of specialty spreads and cheeses under the Athenos, Kraft and Hoffman's brands.

Kraft spokeswoman Joyce Hodel tells The Post-Crescent (http://post.cr/MAAxTu ) the Waupaca plant doesn't have enough volume to support the plant's overhead costs.

Hodel says the 84,000-square-foot Waupaca plant is one of the company's smaller facilities. She says Kraft plans to create more than 20 new jobs at its Wausau plant, and Waupaca employees will get preference for those jobs.

The Kraft Wausau plant currently has 200 employees.

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