The confectioner, known for brands including SweeTARTS, Brach's and Nerds, notified employees and the state last week, in compliance with the Illinois Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. The law requires employers with 75 or more workers to give at least 60 days' notice before a mass layoff or plant closure.

The plant is located at 2945 W. 31st St. Ferrara said production will shift to other facilities. The company operates three other manufacturing sites in the Chicago area — in Bellwood, Forest Park and Itasca — and a fourth in DeKalb.

In a statement, Ferrara said it was "deeply grateful to Chicago's Little Village community for years of partnership and neighborly collaboration." The company attributed the closure to "market conditions and our long-term innovation road map."

Affected employees will be able to continue working at the plant until it closes and can apply for open positions across Ferrara and its affiliate network, the company said. Ferrara also said it will provide severance benefits and outplacement services to help workers find new jobs.

Ferrara began as a bakery in Little Italy in 1908 and has operated in Chicago for nearly 120 years. It was acquired by Ferrero in 2017 but remains a privately held company under common ownership.

The closure is not Ferrara's first recent manufacturing cutback. In 2024, the company closed its Jelly Belly plant in North Chicago, laying off 66 employees less than a year after acquiring the family-owned candy maker. That same year, Blommer Chocolate Co. announced it would close its West Town factory at 600 W. Kinzie St., cutting 250 jobs, citing the rising costs of operating an aging facility.

The Little Village plant's closure adds to a string of manufacturing losses on Chicago's West Side, where industrial jobs have long provided stable employment for immigrant and working-class families. Little Village, home to a large Mexican American community, has seen repeated calls for investment and job protections as factories have shuttered or relocated over the years.

Ferrara's notice to the state did not specify how many of the 154 workers would be offered positions elsewhere or how many would be laid off permanently. The company did not immediately respond to questions about the plant's future use or whether any production would remain in Chicago.

For now, workers at the 31st Street plant are expected to remain on the job through the spring of 2027, when the facility is scheduled to close.