Farmer Brothers, a 103-year-old company that provides coffee to restaurant chains throughout the nation, will become the next to leave the South Bay for a more business-friendly climate in another state.

According to a document filed with the state, more than 350 employees are expected to be laid off.

The company’s headquarters and coffee processing plant at 20333 S. Normandie Ave. in Harbor Gateway will be shuttered, company leaders announced this week, in favor of relocating to either Oklahoma City or the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Negotiations are ongoing with both sites.

The company already has locations in Oklahoma City, Oregon and Houston. It would keep a sales distribution center in California.

Last year, Toyota announced it would leave its U.S. sales and marketing headquarters on Western Avenue in Torrance to move to Texas, and Nissan left the area for Tennessee in 2006.

Farmer Brothers is in the city of Los Angeles, though it has a Torrance mailing address, which creates some confusion.

Branimir Kvartuc, a spokesman for Los Angeles City Councilman Joe Buscaino, said the city intends to contact the company through Mayor Eric Garcetti’s business retention team.

“It might be a done deal, but the councilman wants to reach out to them to see if there’s anything the city can do,” Kvartuc said.

If Farmer Brothers moves ahead with the relocation, he said, the city will attempt to help displaced workers through its Economic and Workforce Development Department.

In a Feb. 5 letter to the city of Torrance with the subject line “Notice of Mass Layoff,” Farmer Brothers Vice President of Human Resources Marti Gonzalez stated that about 350 employees would be laid off “over the next six to nine months, beginning as early as May 1, 2015.”

One of the oldest publicly traded firms in Los Angeles County, Farmer Brothers reported that its earnings for the quarter ending in December fell short. Relocating is expected to save the company money, in part from the sale of its facility.

“The Torrance facility is expected to be closed down in phases commencing in the summer of 2015,” stated a news release. “Construction of the new facility and relocation are expected to be completed by the end of the summer of 2016.”

The company has been in the South Bay facility for 50 years and has been in Los Angeles County since its 1912 founding.

“During the last several months, Farmer Brothers company has conducted a thorough review of our operations and supply chain to determine how we can become more competitive, grow the business and best serve current and future customers,” Gonzalez wrote. “Farmer Brothers Co. has carefully analyzed this situation and its available options and it is with regret that I must report to you that we have decided to close our Torrance facility.”

The move would result in annual savings of $12 million to $15 million beginning in the latter half of 2016, according to a company news release.

It also will provide the opportunity to build a “new state-of-the-art manufacturing, distribution and corporate headquarters facility designed to make the company more competitive and better positioned to capitalize on growth opportunities.”

The company, according to Gonzalez’s letter, will offer “severance benefits and transition programs” for laid-off employees.

Other states, in particular Texas, have been offering aggressive incentives to persuade businesses to relocate from California, where taxes and the cost of living are high and complicated environmental regulations often add bureaucratic layers and drive up the cost of doing business.

Fran Fulton, economic development manager for the city of Torrance, said there are some tax credit programs in place but that more incentives from Sacramento might go further in helping to retain companies that are tempted to jump state lines.

“There are a few programs, but they seem to be difficult, especially for smaller companies, to access,” she said. “There seem to be a lot of hoops to jump through.”

City budgets are limited, she said, adding that more partnerships with other levels of government are needed.

The city, she said, is planning specifically to reach out to employees who are Torrance residents facing the loss of their jobs.

“Even though Farmer Brothers Co. operates in an adjacent city to Torrance, the region will still feel the effects of their relocation,” Torrance Mayor Pat Furey said in a written statement. “The South Bay, however, is still a great place to do business and always welcomes companies looking to expand or relocate.”

Property records indicate that the headquarters and food processing plant — built in 1961 on 49,635 square feet of land — is worth $22.3 million. It is situated behind the railroad tracks on the west side of Normandie near 204th Street.