Berkeley Farms is closing after 110 years and 315 people will lose jobs, company says

Dean Foods said on Wednesday that it’s closing Berkeley Farms, a dairy producer, in Hayward, California by the end of April, according to The Mercury News.

There are also 315 people who work at Berkeley Farms who will be unemployed due to the closing, The Mercury News reported.

Dean Foods told KTVU that the company “hoped to sell the business in order for daily operations and employment to continue there.” The company is looking for someone to buy the real estate.

“This was an extremely tough decision for the Dean Foods family,” a Dean Foods spokesperson said in a statement to KTVU. “Our intention was to sell the Berkeley Farms facility as an ongoing business, meaning operations would have continued; unfortunately, the lack of interested buyers has made the decision necessary.”

Dean Foods’ financial troubles started before the coronavirus outbreak. In November 2019, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, The Mercury News reported at the time.

The company said the bankruptcy came during “a challenging operating environment marked by continuing declines in consumer milk consumption,” according to The Mercury News.

Dairy sales dropped to $13.6 billion in 2018, down from $14.7 billion in 2017, according to the Dairy Farmers of America.

Dean Foods is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.