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( #UPDATED 12:30pm Thursday) More Than 200 Jobs At Risk As Company Announces Facility Will Close

One of CarrolltonÂ’s largest employers has filed notice with the Georgia Department of Labor, signaling the companyÂ’s intent to close its production facility. Closure is expected to affect 206 employees.

In a Worker Adjustment And Retraining Notification (WARN) Act Notice dated November 15th, Colorado Premium Vice President of Human Resources, Bernie Ruesgen writes “this letter serves as notice that Colorado Premium will close its Carrollton, Georgia production facility at 62 Adamson Industrial Boulevard.” Ruesgen says the closure is expected to be permanent in nature. However, he says “…we are attempting to sell the facility to a buyer who will retain the existing workforce.”

The WARN Act requires that the employer provide 60 days of written notice of the intention to lay off more than 50 employees during any 30-day period as part of a plant closing.

The letter states that some employees will apply for and receive offers of employment from other company locations in Colorado.

The letter does not offer a reason for the closure.

On Thursday, VP of Operations for Colorado Premium, Larry Earle told local media that he believes his company is making progress at striking a deal with a potential buyer for the facility. Earle says he has personally told employees that they will have the opportunity to continue their employment with Colorado Premium as they complete the buyout negotiations and Colorado Premium intends to retain every employee through the transition. He says “if all goes well” the transition would take place by mid to late January 2020. “I have no reason to believe at this time the transaction will not take place,” Earle said.

When the transition is complete, the employees choosing to stay on, would then be employees of the facility’s buyer. The new owner of the facility would make the decision whether or not to retain the remaining employees. That could depend on the skill set of current CP employees and how their skills match up with the new company. “I cannot guarantee the jobs of the workers once they have been transitioned to the new company,” Earle said Thursday.

Earlier this year, K2d Foods which does business as Colorado Premium Foods of Carrollton, recalled more than 50 tons of ground beef due to possible contamination with E. Coli bacteria.

In January of 2017, Georgia Governor Nathan Deal announced that Colorado Premium would be investing $15 million in a processing plant formerly occupied by Maplehurst Bakery.

At that time, Colorado Premium founder and President Kevin Lafleur stated, “We explored various locations in the southeast, and this facility was selected due to the overwhelming welcome that we received from the Carroll County and State of Georgia business communities.”

The plant opened in autumn of 2017.

Colorado Premium was founded in 1998 by former Con-Agra/Monfort Executives Kevin Lafleur and Don Babcock. The company markets retail and restaurant-ready beef, poultry and other products under its own brands and more than 75 private-label brands.

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