Keurig Dr Pepper, owner of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, has announced it will sell off two of its local facilities and consolidate into a third.
On Tuesday, representatives of Keurig Dr Pepper revealed plans to sell off its Waterbury Center facility, as well as the property located at 1 Pilgrim Park in Waterbury, and consolidate all local operations into the recently renovated Keurig facility on Railroad Street.
“We have no layoffs to announce at this time,” Katie Gilroy, director of corporate communications for Keurig Dr Pepper, said in an email Monday.
The move is in line with layoffs in October that impacted 118 Green Mountain Coffee Roasters employees across Vermont, with the Waterbury facility taking the brunt of the cuts. At the time, Keurig said the job cuts were part of the company’s plan to consolidate all research and development work at one location.
According to Gilroy, all R&D work will be consolidated to a single location in Plano, Texas by the spring of 2020.
Gilroy said the employee transition to the new space would happen "over the coming months," and declined to share the asking price for the properties.
Rep. Theresa Wood, D-Waterbury, received notification Monday from Keurig of the latest development.
“The only thing I can say is that this doesn’t come as a surprise to me,” Wood said. “We’ve seen the trend, with the company changing hands a few times now, and we wonder how long they will stay in Vermont.”
In July of 2018, Keurig Green Mountain — which produces single-serving coffee pods commonly referred to as K-cups — merged with Dr Pepper Snapple Group to form Keurig Dr Pepper.
“I think the message here is Vermont needs to have a diverse economy that is not reliant on any single large employer, and this really brings home that point,” Wood said.
Chris Viens, chair of the Waterbury Select Board, came away with a different message.
“They’ve been migrating out of town for years, and I want to know if this has to do with the challenges of trying to do business in this state,” Viens said. “I don’t know what it will take for our legislative body to understand the financial pressures of operating in this state. I think the governor understands it, but his hands are tied by the Legislature.”
This story will be updated as more details are made available.
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