California takes another jobs hit as major frozen food company shuts factory and moves production out of state

California is losing another manufacturing operation, and this time hundreds of jobs are caught in the transition. Amy’s Kitchen is shutting down its Santa Rosa factory, with the frozen-food company restructuring production across its facilities in California, Oregon and Idaho. About 260 positions across its manufacturing network will be affected, including roughly 207 in Santa Rosa.

The layoffs will not happen all at once

The Santa Rosa facility will close in phases. Layoffs are expected to begin later in 2026 and continue into summer 2027, giving some workers months before their positions disappear. Amy’s says affected employees will receive separation packages as well as job-placement and counseling assistance.

The bigger change is where the food will be made. Production currently handled in Santa Rosa will transition to Amy’s facilities in Medford, Oregon, and Pocatello, Idaho, as the company reorganizes plants around specific product categories. Amy’s corporate headquarters, however, will remain in Petaluma, California.

It is not Amy’s first major California cut

For California workers, the Santa Rosa shutdown follows earlier reductions by the company. Amy’s closed a San Jose factory in 2022, eliminating roughly 300 jobs, and California WARN records show another 305 permanent layoffs at Santa Rosa-area facilities effective in December 2024.

Amy’s has also faced controversy at the Santa Rosa plant. Cal/OSHA fined the company $25,000 following an investigation into workplace health and safety violations, and the company later faced a consumer boycott. Amy’s told SFGATE that neither the boycott nor unionization efforts were factors in the decision to close the facility.

Why Amy’s says it is leaving the factory behind

CEO Paul Schiefer said the company’s manufacturing network had become more complex than its current business requires and that Amy’s considered alternatives before deciding on the closure. The company says concentrating production at fewer facilities should make its operations more efficient over the long term.

That means Amy’s is not leaving California entirely, but the manufacturing map is changing: its headquarters stays in the state while production that once provided jobs in Santa Rosa increasingly shifts elsewhere. For the workers affected, that distinction offers little comfort as another California factory prepares to shut its doors.