Schwan's Home Service, distinctive for its direct-to-door deliveries of ice cream and dinner entrees in its fleet of boxy, yellow freezer trucks, is closing two of its depots, in Rocklin and Woodland, and laying off about 30 workers.
The depots will close within the next 30 days.
Schwan's officials said they shuttered the two Sacramento-area locations because they were not making money.
"Like many companies, Schwan's Home Service routinely evaluates opportunities to create efficiencies and strengthen its business," Chuck Blomberg, spokesman at parent Schwan Food Co., said in a statement. "Unfortunately this sometimes means it is necessary to close locations that are not profitable."
Employees were given severance packages and outplacement services, he said.
It's unclear how Sacramento-area customers will be affected, but Blomberg said the plan is to transfer clients "to local depots where possible."
Officials at Schwan's Marshall, Minn., headquarters Wednesday did not respond to telephone requests to elaborate on the statement.
The Sacramento-area closures are part of a larger cost-cutting strategy at the home service unit as it readjusts its business model, jettisons laggard operations and focuses on its core markets.
Officials on Tuesday told the Marshall (Minn.) Independent newspaper that employees at about 55 Schwan's home service locations across the country were told late last year that they were slated to close. About 500 positions nationwide are affected.
Schwan Food Co., is a multibillion-dollar private company with approximately 18,000 employees worldwide, though the company has cut nearly 2,000 positions in the past two years, according to news reports.
Schwan's Home Service Inc. has nearly 500 local sales and distribution centers across the continental United States.
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