Largest sauerkraut manufacturer in the world will close Ontario County plant

The company that bills itself as the largest sauerkraut manufacturer in the world will close its factory in Shortsville, just south of the New York State Thruway in Ontario County.

GLK Foods, which processes a total of 130,000 tons of cabbage a year, announced that is consolidating its sauerkraut production to its plant in Bear Creek, Wisconsin.

Production will continue at the century-old Shortsville plant through mid-September, while shipping and receiving will continue through the end of the year, the company said in a press release. Many Shortsville employees will be retained throughout that time.

"We worked for years and years to keep them here," said Michael J. Manikowski, economic developer for Ontario County Economic Development. The company had been talking about consolidating to the rural Wisconsin plant for many years, and in recent years it stopped responding to calls from the economic development office.

GLK Foods did not have any existing tax agreement, and a past loan was paid in full, Manikowski said.

There are challenges with a sauerkraut plant in the middle of the village, Manikowski noted, such as complaints about the smell that comes from processing fermented cabbage. Those are likely to be less an issue in rural Wisconsin.

The closing of the plant will impact not only its workers, but also area farmers who grow cabbage. It's a major crop in New York; the value of New York's cabbage production exceeded $58 million in 2016, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Ontario County has been a hub of sauerkraut production for more than 100 years, Manikowski said. Phelps, just east of Shortsville, has an annual sauerkraut festival.

GLK traces its roots back to a Bear Creek, Wisconsin, cannery that started making sauerkraut in 1900. Through mergers, Great Lakes Kraut Company was created in 1997 and was renamed GLK Foods in 2010.

TRACYS@Gannett.com

This story includes reporting by USA Today Network reporter Maureen Wallenfang.

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