Fairfield to lose more than jobs in Budweiser plant closure. Officials ‘shocked’
The impending closure of Anheuser-Busch’s Budweiser brewery came as a surprise to Fairfield, which for almost 50 years has looked to the plant for utility fees, philanthropy and jobs.
City officials estimated that the brewery employs between 200 and 250 people.
“It’s a part of the community, as much as Travis Air Force Base and Jelly Belly,” said Dave Zellers, the city’s community and economic development director.
The plant is perhaps the sixth or seventh-largest employer in Fairfield, said Mayor Catherine Moy, after the Air Force base, city government and health care companies. And it is the city’s largest water customer. When the site closes, residents and businesses will likely have to take on a rate increase — something the city has avoided for the past five years.
“I don’t know how soon that would happen,” Moy said. But, she added, “we won’t have a choice.”
The company confirmed that the brewery will close in early 2026, but did not respond to questions about the size of the plant’s workforce.
The company had, just last summer, announced plans to invest $7 million to improve the building’s roof, equipment and infrastructure. That made the phone call from Fairfield’s city manager even more surprising Thursday morning, Moy said.
“He was shocked. I was shocked,” she said. “I wish that we could have done something.”
City officials plan to put together a task force to examine possibilities for the plant’s real estate. That could include another brewery, but the property also has a rail spur, high ceilings and loading bays — all of which could be useful for other kinds of manufacturers.
They are also putting together job search and training resources for the plant’s workers, said Zellers, the economic development director.
“One thing about Fairfield that I’ve learned since I’ve been here: People will pull together and support others,” he said. “This is one of those times.”
Beer industry downturn
Though the news shocked locals, observers of the U.S. beer industry had wondered if A-B would downsize.
Industrywide volumes are down about 5% year-over-year amid consumers’ economic wariness and a decline in alcohol consumption among younger generations, said Benj Steinman, an editor with Beer Marketer’s Insights.
In addition to the Fairfield plant, the company confirmed Thursday that it would sell another facility in Newark, New Jersey, and close a brewery in Merrimack, New Hampshire. The three sites collectively employ 475 people, the company said.
All workers will be offered jobs at other A-B facilities, the company said. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents about 5,000 Anheuser-Busch workers nationwide, said in a statement Thursday that under its latest contract, approved last year, employment, wages and seniority are protected in the case of brewery closures.
The company has another brewery in the Los Angeles area.
A-B rival Molson Coors had already taken steps to cut costs. Over the past two years the company has announced plans to close breweries in Wisconsin and Cork, Ireland, according to news reports. And in October Molson Coors said it would cut about 400 positions, or 9% of its U.S. salaried workforce.
“People wondered if and when A-B would close a brewery,” Steinman said. “This is almost inevitable.”
This story was originally published December 11, 2025 at 5:22 PM.
