Coca-Cola Cutting Nearly 60 jobs at Pennsylvania Syrup Plant

Sept. 8, 2023

Company gave notice that a portion of the Allentown, Pa., syrup plant’s operations would be shut down in the coming months.

Andy Hanacek

According to local news reports, Coca-Cola filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act Notice (WARN) with the state of Pennsylvania’s Dept. of Labor & Industry that it would cut 58 jobs at its Allentown, Pa., syrup plant by the end of the calendar year.

The company would then shut down a portion of the operations at the facility, the reports said. The layoffs are effective Dec. 31, 2023, according to the notice. Coca-Cola, in a statement in August, said the suspended portion of production would be transferred to a third-party co-packer in the area.

The plant makes syrup used for fountain soft drinks, and it also manufactures Powerade sports drinks — it was opened in 1997 and expanded in April 2019, adding 42 jobs at the time.

About the Author

Andy Hanacek | Senior Editor

Andy Hanacek has covered meat, poultry, bakery and snack foods as a B2B editor for nearly 20 years, and has toured hundreds of processing plants and food companies, sharing stories of innovation and technological advancement throughout the food supply chain. In 2018, he won a Folio:Eddie Award for his unique "From the Editor's Desk" video blogs, and he has brought home additional awards from Folio and ASBPE over the years. In addition, Hanacek led the Meat Industry Hall of Fame for several years and was vice president of communications for We R Food Safety, a food safety software and consulting company.