Wendt’s Dairy located in Niagara Falls, N.Y. will be shutting its doors in May 2008 after almost 60 years of operation. The plant was opened in 1948 and is currently owned by Upstate Niagara Milk Cooperative.
The milk manufacturing site is part of Upstate Farms Niagara and is being closed to avoid a duplication of operations, said Eva Balazs, communications manager for Upstate Niagara.
Balazs said only fluid milk and some juices are manufactured at the Falls plant, the same operations conducted at Upstate Niagara’s larger plants in Cheektowaga and Rochester.
“It will be closed sometime in May,” she said. “There was just too much duplication going on to keep it open.”
Balazs said the “majority” of the workers losing their jobs here will be offered positions at the Cheektowaga plant.
“We will still need them because we’re still producing the same amount of product,” Balazs said.
Wendt’s Dairy has existed at 8450 Buffalo Ave. since 1948. It was most recently owned by about 170 farm families known as Niagara Milk Cooperative before merging with Upstate Farms Niagara in 2006. Balazs said Wendt’s milk will still be sold locally.