Hormel Foods Corp. said it would furlough 150 of its 500 employees at Fontanini Foods in McCook, Illinois, effective May 4.
Fontanini Foods supplies Italian food products to foodservice venues such as restaurants, hotels, sports arenas, colleges and universities, which have seen a dramatic decline as a result of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The company said its “best course of action” right now was to furlough part of its team with the expectations that they would return as business recovers.
“As the global COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, it is having an unfortunate impact on our lives and on our business,” said John Kempen, plant manager, Fontanini Foods, in a press release. “While the company has made every effort to keep our production running as usual, due to market conditions, we have been faced with the difficult decision of placing some of our valued team members on furlough. Our dedicated employees have been working hard over the last several weeks and we thank them for all they are doing as essential workers. We fully expect this furlough to be temporary and look forward to bringing our employees back to work as soon as we are able.”
Hormel said all furloughed employees would continue to receive health and welfare benefits during the furlough. The company added that it would work to make the duration of the furlough “as limited as possible.”
Also this week, Hormel announced a second special cash bonus for its plant production team members who continue to work to produce food during the COVID-19 pandemic. The new $7 million bonus is in addition to the $4 million bonus paid in April and will be paid to all full- and part-time plant production team members who are stepping up to ensure the company's trusted brands and products are available during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In February, for the fourth quarter, Hormel Foods reported net earnings of $242.9 million, up from the net earnings of $241.4 from the first quarter of fiscal year 2019.
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