Coca-Cola Closing FL Plant, Laying Off 200 Workers

DUNEDIN, FL — The Coca-Cola Company will shut down its plant in Dunedin this spring, laying off nearly 200 workers, according to a Feb. 6 WARN notice submitted to the Florida Commerce website by the company.

The facility at 427 San Christopher Drive will close May 31 with the layoffs of the company’s 198 employees there starting April 5.

All positions and jobs will be eliminated at the site, the company said. Workers, who were notified of the impending layoffs on Feb. 5, were given more than 60 days’ notice.

Coca-Cola announced in 2020 that it planned to close its Dunedin plant and move operations to a third-party operator in Bartow, according to the Tampa Bay Business Journal.

"While these decisions are never made lightly, we believe Peace River has the right capabilities to support production of our brands and will put us in the best position for sustainable long-term growth," a Coca-Cola spokesperson said. "The transition will be completed by July 2024."

Coca-Cola officials said the company conducted an extensive analysis of the Dunedin plant, which is nearly 80 years old, and decided that the projected infrastructure needed to maintain the plant was too cost-prohibitive, Patch previously reported.

"Moving manufacturing to our long-term partners, Peace River, allows us to streamline operations and to significantly modernize older CCNA juice manufacturing capacity to a new state-of-the-art facility," the letter continued.