Plainville, NY – Little more than a year after going into operations, Kosher Valley is shutting down its plant at the former Plainville Turkey Farm.
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On Wednesday, Kosher Valley’s parent company, Hain Celestial, announced in a quarterly report that it had sold off the Kosher Valley brand. At 4 p.m. workers were told the plant would be shut down in a week and stay closed for six months.
They were told the Kosher Valley line would be taken over by Empire Kosher Poultry, a leader in the industry, and that another use would have to be found for the Plainville plant.
One worker said General Manager Mike Vance told employees they would be called back to work in six months.
Hain Celestial, which includes such brands as Earth’s Best baby food, Celestial Seasonings and Avalon personal care products, bought the Plainville facility from the Bitz family for $26.3 million in 2007.
Most workers were laid off in early 2009 while the plant was refurbished to handle kosher processing of chickens and turkeys. The retooling, which cost more than $1 million, was completed in March of that year.
More than 100 people worked at the plant, workers said.
The turkey processing that had been done at the plant when it was owned by the Bitz family was moved to a turkey production facility in New Oxford, Pa. At the time of the move, the new owner said the shift would bring cost savings.
In the quarterly report, Hain Celestial said it lost about $700,000 on Kosher Valley during the first three months of 2010.
This only shows there are already enough kosher schlachthoises and we don’t need to be providing special zoning or waivers of the building codes for new ones. Fortunately, the most well-capitalized kosher food companies are beginning to force out the second and third-tier kosher processors who only appealed to fringe groups within the heimeshe community.
700,000 small money into lose…
Agri Star loses that money in half day!!! This is part of a investment win or lose
Empire bought them out? They just bought the Empire name from Empire National and will go into the beef business.
THis will raise prices, not lower it. You are giving more fo a monopoly to one guy, like Agri.
Mazel tov empire kosher food your hatzlucha is respect and good pay towards sochtim employment
Kosher Valley brand chicken is the best out there by far. I hope they are not getting rid of the chicken. My husband, who is not into health food at all, commented once when I used a different brand after buying KV for a few weeks. He was trying to ask politely why it did not taste as good as usual. THere is definitely a difference!
Does this also apply to the chicken from this brand? That’s a real shame; their stuff was always fresh and they sold in places that often didn’t have other kosher poultry.
Empire is a superb brand name and produces a fine product. The kashrus is top notch as well. The only reason people don’t eat empire is because their rebbes want to make money off of their own hechsheirim. The whole kashrut business is corrupt.
Was bound to happen. These are the ones who existed in 2009/10
1. Kosher Valley
2. Marvid
3. Vineland
4. Empire
5. Agri Proc
6. Kiryas Yoel
7. Mehadrin (formerly GG)
These are the ones who existed in 2008.
1. Marvid
2. Vineland
3. Empire. They started a Mehadrin/Glat Label.
4. Agri Proc
5. Kiryas Yoel. They doubled their capacity in 2008/9.
Do you really think that the consumer base grew in 2009/10 to need this enormous increase in capacity? That’s why they were selling it at below cost. One more is bound to fail and it will most likely be Vineland.
We consumers will suffer at the end of the day. Raboisai, prices are headed NORTH!
ALL these hashgachot are the SAME; its only the rabbonim who make money by lending their name to the different hashgachot who make big dollars from providing the same service but at a much higher markup. These are the cause of higher prices, NOT the market. Those who drink the coolaide thinking they are getting a “more kosher” product are sadly mistaken
Maybe more people will eat turkey and we won’t need to open the chicken plant in New Square now.
THere is a lot more than meets the eye. According to a press release from the Hain Group, Kosher Value was sold to Empire for a seat on Empire’s board.
I don’t know too much about the brand, or about their marketing or their distribution, but I know why they’re losing money.
They’re losing money because the Charedi kashrus monopoly has used their immense power within all of the religious Jewish communities the wide world over to instill an unnecessary fear into the hearts of their congregants, to the point where people are so terrified of things unseen and unknown, that that which is allowed becomes strictly forbidden.
The kashrus industry has paraded around as the champions of the Jewish people, hidden under the patchworked costume of non-profit organizations and Torah institutions, sown with the thread of thievery and have duped us all into thinking that they were out for the spread of Torah ethics by acting as the agent of assurances that our food is produced under the standard of Torah law prescribed by the Shulchan Aruch, when in fact they are worked weary from the tireless task of convincing us that we have to live up to a higher standard than even that which the Torah requires of us, in order to line their own pockets with the misappropriated money of the masses.
Seems that there were some tikunim for nitzotzos to be made up there in those mountains, they built a mikva-tahara, & a shul, for the shochtim, and after the tikunim were made it was time to just move on!!