BATAVIA, NY - A $208 million yogurt plant in Batavia, Genesee County, opened amid great fanfare just 2½ years ago, is changing hands.
New York state economic development officials said late Thursday afternoon that Müller Quaker Dairy, which built the facility, would sell it to Dairy Farmers of America, a large milk cooperative based in Missouri. "Empire State Development will be working with the new plant owner ... to restart operations soon," state officials said in their statement.
The sale comes after reports that Müller Quaker, a partnership of German dairy giant Theo Müller Group and Quaker Oats, a unit of Pepsico, was shuttering the Batavia plant and laying off its 200 or so workers. The state Assemblyman who represents the area said he was optimistic many of them would be rehired by DFA.
"My understanding is there is going to be a shutdown, and then the future will hopefully bode well with the milk cooperative coming in," said Assemblyman Steve Hawley, R-Batavia. "And then hopefully the vast majority of those employed, over 100 people, at Mueller will be rehired. That's the hope, anyway."
Hawley said it was not clear how long the plant would be closed.
The Genesee County Economic Development Center, which confirmed the Müller Quaker closing earlier Thursday afternoon, had said it was "optimistic" the 350,000-square-foot plant "will continue to play a key role in the agricultural sector in our region, including remaining a major employer."
Müller Quaker Dairy makes a variety of yogurt based products at the facility, located in the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park.
DFA, which already has some operations in New York, makes a wide variety of dairy products, though the list on its website does not include yogurt. There was no immediate comment from DFA on its plans for the plant.
Muller Quaker, which has offices in Chicago, did not respond to telephone and email requests for comment. It appeared to have deactivated its Twitter account andFacebook page late Thursday afternoon.
"Dairy Farmers of America is a national dairy marketing cooperative that serves and is owned by more than 14,000 members on more than 8,000 farms in 48 states," according to its website. "DFA also is one of the country's most diversified manufacturers of dairy products, food components and ingredients and is a leader in formulating and packaging shelf-stable dairy products."
The disclosure of the impending change in plant ownership comes just hours after Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that the Finger Lakes region, of which Genesee County is a part, had been awarded $500 million in state aid to bolster economic development and job creation. The Müller Quaker plant was cited several times in the Finger Lakes region's application for the Upstate Revitalization Initiative aid as an example of a successful agri-business.
The plant, which opened in late spring 2013, was a linchpin in the yogurt boomtouted by Cuomo, who held New York's first-ever "yogurt summit" in 2012. The company was given about $14 million in state tax credits as well as millions more in property and sales tax reductions.
The yogurt boom, fueled in good part by the spike in popularity of Greek yogurt, was seen as a boon to New York's dairy industry. New York is one of the nation's five biggest dairy states, and Cuomo administration officials have said New York has become America's leading yogurt producer as well.
New York Farm Bureau president Dean Norton, who lives in Genesee County, said he was disappointed Müller Quaker plant is closing so soon after opening to great fanfare.
Norton is concerned that the loss of the facility may create a "short-term supply imbalance" of milk production in the area after dairy farms girded themselves to produce enough milk for the factory.
Another, considerably smaller yogurt plant in the Genesee County agri-business park, built in 2012 by the Colombian company Alpina Foods, remains open. Alpina laid off more than half its work force last year but invested in new equipment this year.
