The Town of Cobourg and Northumberland County suffered a major blow on Wednesday (April 9) when Post Holdings announced it would be closing Cobourg’s Weetabix plant by the end of the year, throwing an estimated 150 people out of work.
Post Holdings is the U.S. parent company of Post Consumer Brands, which manufactures cereals including Raisin Bran, Shreddies, Honey Bunches of Oats, Honey-Comb, Pebbles, and Grape-Nuts as well as peanut butter and pet food.
The Weetabix plant at 751 D’Arcy Street in Cobourg is one of two cereal manufacturing facilities the company is closing, with the other located in Sparks, Nevada.
With the closure of the two plants, around 300 employees will lose their jobs.
The company says its production capabilities at the two plants will be transferred to other Post Consumer Brands manufacturing locations, and the Cobourg and Sparks plants will close by the end of December 2025.
“The ready-to-eat cereal category continues to decline,” Post Consumer Brands president and CEO Nicolas Catoggio said in a media release. “To respond to this, we are reducing excess manufacturing capacity and optimizing our North American plant network to better utilize our production capacity.”
With the exception of a surge in demand during the pandemic, consumer preferences have been steadily shifting away from highly processed ready-to-eat cereal to more convenient and healthier breakfast options like protein bars and yogurt. Large cereal manufacturers like Post Holdings and General Mills are also competing against a growing niche cereal market that produces healthier options.
Post has seen cereal volumes decline by 2.3 per cent in the first quarter of fiscal 2025. The company says it expects to save around $21 to $23 million starting in fiscal 2026 as a result of closing the Cobourg and Sparks plants.
Post also operates a third plant in Canada, located in Niagara Falls, that manufactures Shreddies. That plant was not affected by the announcement.
Cobourg mayor Lucas Cleveland issued a statement late Wednesday that he was “very saddened to receive the news” of the closure announcement.
“Post has been a valued member of the business community in Cobourg since 2017 when the company acquired Weetabix,” he said. “Their loss will be felt throughout Northumberland. This closure represents the loss of 150 local jobs within our community. I know I speak for all of council when I say this is very unfortunate.”
“I will be reaching out to the senior team at Post to see how Cobourg can help in this difficult time. Our primary concern now is for our fellow friends and neighbours as employees and how we can make sure they are accessing the services they require.”
Cobourg’s Weetabix plant has been operation in 1978 and makes breakfast cereals under the Weetabix, Alpen and Barbara’s brands, and GrainShop, a high-fibre cereal sold only in Canada since 2003. It produces around 26 million pounds of cereal each year and, in 2019, employed 185 people.
Weetabix was originally a family-owned company established in the U.K. in 1932, with its main factory in Kettering, Northamptonshire producing three billion Weetabix biscuits every year. The largest producer of breakfast cereals in the U.K., the company also had factories in Europe, east Africa, and North America.
In 2004, Weetabix was bought by a private equity firm Lion Capitol and, in 2012, China’s Bright Food acquired a majority stake with the intention of expanding into the Chinese market. After Weetabix failed to catch on in China, Bright Food sold the business to Post Holdings in 2017.
In 2019, the Ontario government announced $412,700 in funding for an expansion of the Cobourg plant that was to create 47 new jobs.
