Bay Area Organic Food Company Amy’s Kitchen to Lay Off Over 300 Employees

The North Bay-based organic food company Amy’s Kitchen will lay off 311 employees — nearly 15% of its workforce — just months after the end of a two-year boycott over unsafe working conditions.

Employees at the company’s Petaluma headquarters, Santa Rosa plant and remote workers will be affected. Amy’s said in a statement that the decision was based on “industry headwinds” to “rebalance the business.”

“Yesterday’s decision was difficult and we are saddened to have to say goodbye to some of our valued team members,” the statement reads.

Amy’s said it will provide severance packages and mental health resources to all laid-off employees. The company told the North Bay Business Journal that managers, clerical staff and assembly line workers are all affected and that layoffs will be staggered.

“This is absolutely the outcome that, if we could have avoided, we would have. It’s heartbreaking and sad,” Amy’s President, Paul Schiefer, told the Business Journal.

Amy’s Kitchen is known for its organic and family-owned approach to soups and frozen meals. Founded in 1987, the company boasts on its website that it was organic “before organic was a thing.”

Two years ago, Amy’s laid off a similar number of employees after abruptly closing its San José facility amid a union organizing drive.

That came months after a fierce two-year boycott began over working conditions and alleged union-busting practices. The boycott, led by the food justice nonprofit Food Empowerment Project, ended in June after Amy’s agreed to a number of improvements for workers, from increased wages to bilingual service representatives.

The agreements followed eight months of negotiations between Amy’s and the Food Empowerment Project.

“These are workers who love their job. They just want to be treated with respect and paid a living wage,” Food Empowerment Project founder Lauren Ornelas previously told KQED.

After the boycott ended, Schiefer said in a statement published on the FEP website that closing the San Jose plant was “a difficult decision in response to a challenging economic climate following the pandemic.”

“We have learned valuable lessons from this experience and are committed to improvement going forward,” he added.