Johnsonville shutters longtime Illinois facility, ending 274 jobs

Nearly 300 workers in Momence, Illinois, were left without jobs on Monday following the abrupt closure of a Johnsonville Foods facility that had long been a cornerstone of the community. According to ABC7 Chicago, the sausage manufacturer notified 274 employees that the Momence Packing Company building was closing effective immediately.

The plant, which has provided steady employment in Momence for more than 60 years, had been operated by Johnsonville Foods for the past three decades. The sudden shutdown shocked workers and city officials alike.

“It’s like they didn’t even care about us. You know, same day?” former employee Lupe Hernandez told ABC7 Chicago. Hernandez said she had worked at the facility for 25 years, serving as an office clerk and in the hog barn. She explained that employees were summoned to a mandatory meeting in Kankakee, where the company’s CEO informed them the plant was shutting down.

“It’s just very devastating, very heartbroken,” Hernandez said. “I’ve done nothing today but sit at home feel sorry for myself. What can we do?”



City leaders said they were caught off guard as well. Momence Mayor Charles Steele said Johnsonville gave him just 15 minutes’ notice before the public announcement.

“We depend upon all these employees to live here, get their services here, buy and shop here when they get off work, during lunches, on their way to work. And it’s a huge impact for our community overall, economically,” Steele told ABC7 Chicago.

Tim Nugent, president and CEO of the Economic Alliance of Kankakee County, also expressed surprise. “Just when I was out there a couple weeks ago, the plant manager talked about over a million dollars’ worth of equipment that had recently been installed,” he said. “If they’re investing in infrastructure it means that they made plans to stay around a while.”

In a statement published in multiple news outlets,  Johnsonville Foods said:

“We made the difficult decision after evaluating how best to optimize our operations network to address current and future growth. This decision was based on optimizing our operations across our other newer facilities.”

The company added that it would continue to pay wages and provide benefits to the affected workers for 60 days. But for employees like Hernandez, that offers only temporary relief.

Johnsonville also announced plans to demolish the “aging facility” by the end of 2025.