Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP) will close its Williston, Vt., processing plant and shift operations to the Essex Junction, Vt., facility, according to news reports citing a statement from the beverage company. It is expected to execute the move in the second quarter of 2024, according to the reports, and all Williston employees would have an opportunity to transfer to the Essex Jct. plant.
The company told news outlets that the move will support innovation and growth of the company. The Williston plant employed 150 workers and 800 in Vermont. The Essex Jct. plant reportedly will be the last of several KDP facilities that operated for just over 40 years under the Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and Keurig brands.
It has been a long and winding road for Green Mountain Coffee over those four decades. The company was founded in 1981 in Waterbury, Vt., and fully acquired Burlington, Mass.-based Keurig in 2006. Ten years later, Dr Pepper purchased Keurig Green Mountain, and the combined company was acquired two years later by European company JAB Holdings. JAB subsequently spun KDP off into its own publicly traded company, while still owning a stake in the company.