FREEHOLD - Nestlé is scheduled to officially end production of freeze-dried coffee at its plant here on Friday and plans to put the property up for sale in the first quarter of next year, a spokesperson said, closing the door on what has been a landmark in town for the past 75 years.
As Nestlé winds down, Freehold Borough officials said they are considering redevelopment plans. And the company's 227 employees are finding themselves in an unsettled position of continuing to work while looking for a new job.
"It seems to be going OK, as best as it could be going," said Anita Clark, recording secretary for Teamsters Local 11, the union that represents the workers. "Many of these people thought they were going to retire from that spot. It was a hard blow, but they're dealing with it and moving on."
Switzerland-based Nestlé announced in June that it would close the plant, saying the facility where it makes Taster's Choice coffee had become outdated and inflexible. Nestlé last year opened a $340 million facility in Veracruz, Mexico, making Mexico the company's main coffee producer.
The Nestlé plant on Jerseyville Avenue in Freehold Borough is shown Tuesday, May 2, 2023.
The closure carries extra weight. Nestlé was a global brand that continued to provide good-paying manufacturing jobs long after other manufacturers fled New Jersey for cheaper locations. And it gave Freehold the scent of coffee that captured the attention of generations who grew up there, including its most famous celebrity, Bruce Springsteen.
"The downtown business owners and the community as a whole wish the plant would have remained open," said Jeffrey Friedman, a councilman-elect and executive director of Downtown Freehold, a business group. "It provided a wonderful source of high-paying jobs to our local community members. It also supported a number of off-site tool and die makers, inventory suppliers and machinists and other high-quality union jobs. So we're certainly disappointed that that Nestlé is not keeping the plant open."
Nescafé built the factory for $1 million and opened it in 1948, producing instant coffee that gained popularity among U.S. soldiers during World War II and would continue to find new customers as Americans moved to the suburbs after the war.
The building was a state-of-the-art facility for the postwar world that featured the latest in efficiency and design. It was constructed using cinderblock and yellow brick, And the site included a newly installed double railroad spur that could accommodate 26 box cars at one time.
Not that the company's Freehold site will only be remembered for its coffee aroma. State environmental investigators said the extraction of caffeine involved the use of hazardous substances. While Nestlé installed new systems and began to remediate the site, a 2006 lawsuit filed by the state said the groundwater remained contaminated.
"Nestlé has been engaged in a long-term remediation project from historic operations at the Freehold site," a company spokesperson said in a statement to the Asbury Park Press last week. "We remain committed to ensuring the completion of remediation."
The Nestlé plant on Jerseyville Avenue in Freehold Borough is shown Tuesday, May 2, 2023.
Nestlé officials said the company had invested heavily in the Freehold plant over the years, but they said it would have needed to spend tens of millions more to modernize the plant.
A trailer parked outside the Nestlé plant on Jerseyville Avenue in Freehold Borough is shown Tuesday, May 2, 2023.
With the announcement, Nestlé joins a long list of historic Freehold manufacturers — Karagheusian Rug Mill, Brockway Glass, 3M — to close up shop. It's a phenomenon that inspired Springsteen to write "My Hometown," with its haunting lyrics, "Foreman says, 'These jobs are going, boys, and they ain't coming back.'"
The decision also leaves officials to come up with a plan to replace nearly $600,000 a year in tax revenue and hundreds of middle-class jobs.
New uses under the microscope
Stephen Gallo, the borough's business administrator, said the council voted in July to hire Beacon Planning and Consulting Services, based in Colts Neck, to study potential uses for the site.
Manufacturing or warehousing? Its future could be swayed by a new wild card: Delaware & Raritan River Railroad last month finished a $12 million project that rehabilitated five miles of railroad track between Freehold and Farmingdale, potentially clearing the way for more freight train service.
The Nestlé plant on Jerseyville Avenue in Freehold Borough is shown Tuesday, May 2, 2023.
"There's a lot happening (in town), so I'm looking at it as another opportunity to do something good with that piece (of property)," Freehold Mayor Kevin Kane said. "Instead of just letting it sit there, we're going to be aggressive about seeing what we can do to put something good in there that will benefit the town. Don't know what that is at this point; there's nothing in the plans. But I'm looking at it as an opportunity."
For now, Nestlé workers have more pressing concerns. Clark from the Teamsters union said the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development hosted a job fair for employees at the Nestlé factory in October, attracting 16 employers, including a handful of food and beverage companies.
The agency said it has scheduled another for Dec. 6, hoping to reach employees who couldn't attend the first one.
Monmouth County Commissioner Director Thomas A. Arnone also said workers could find information about job openings and work force programs at www.workinmonmouth.com and www.visitmonmouth.com.
"We're getting a good severance package," the Teamsters' Clark said. "But they still had to deal with the fact that the rug was pulled out from under them."
Michael L. Diamond is a business reporter who has been writing about the New Jersey economy and health care industry for more than 20 years. He can be reached at mdiamond@gannettnj.com.
