Dec 6, 2007 11:58 am US/Central
End Comes For Jays Potato Chip Factory
Plant Closes At 3PM
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
A true Chicago classic is disappearing from the city's landscape, effective at 3 p.m. Thursday afternoon.
As CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman reports, it is the last day of production at the Jays Potato Chip plant at 825 E. 99th St., and 220 union employees will be left out of work.
As of the late morning hours, the smell of potatoes, corn oil and salt permeated the air at 99th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue. But for the first time in about 40 years, that smell will be absent from the area when the afternoon comes.
It was a point of pride for neighbors living near the plant.
"It's a part of us," said neighbor Marie Boston. "We see the people going and coming, and we wave at them."
But there will soon be fewer people to wave at. Because of competition from bigger companies like Frito-Lay, Jays is going out of business. The new owners, Snyder's of Hanover -- a Pennsylvania pretzel company -- is closing down the Chicago plant.
Jays Foods, which produces Jays and Krunchers potato chips and O-Ke-Doke popcorn, is in bankruptcy protection. Snyder's offered $24.8 million for the assets of the 80-year-old company which, along with sister company Select Snacks Inc., went into bankruptcy in October amid steep cost increases.
Even with the new owners, the brand name will survive, but the chips that have lived up to their slogan, "Can't stop eating 'em" will no longer be made in Chicago. The Jays brand will go on, but the chips will be cut and fried out of state.
One of the more than 200 people who are losing their jobs spoke with CBS 2, but he asked that his face not be shown and his name not be used.
"Everyone wants to work for Jays," the man said. "It's pretty uplifting to when you're with a company you thought would be around for a while."
The man said people who got pink slips are devastated, especially because this is happening right around the holidays.
The Jays potato chip company has been operating in Chicago for 80 years. It was founded in 1927 by Leonard Japp Sr., and first produced chips under the name Mrs. Japp's. The name changed to Jays after Pearl Harbor.
The Japp family sold the company in the 1980s and later re-bought it.
A warehouse and distribution center adjacent to the 99th Street plant, which employs 420 others in addition to the plant's 220, will remain open for now.
CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman and the STNG Wire contributed to this report.
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