A Massachusetts snack factory is scheduled to close on December 15, eliminating 62 jobs in Fitchburg. It is another sizable loss for food manufacturing after a frozen-food plant closure in neighboring New Jersey was announced in October.
Powered by FTGU LLC, an affiliate of snack company Our Home, filed notice of the planned Fitchburg shutdown with the state. The closure will affect the former Wachusett Potato Chip facility at 759 Water Street, according to local business reporting.
A snack factory with deep local roots
The factory was once home to Wachusett Potato Chip Company, a longtime Massachusetts snack maker that Utz Brands acquired in 2011. Our Home bought the Fitchburg plant and another Utz facility in Pennsylvania in April 2024 as part of an $18.5 million transaction.
At the time of that deal, Our Home was expanding its manufacturing footprint. Utz said employees at the two plants would be offered the opportunity to move to the new owner, which planned to continue making certain Utz products under a co-manufacturing agreement.
Our Home now sells a broad mix of snack brands, including Popchips, Pop Secret, Good Health, ParmCrisps, Sonoma Creamery and Real Food From The Ground Up. The latter is known for vegetable-based snacks such as cauliflower pretzels, crackers, tortilla chips and puffed snacks.
Fourth plant closure in several months
The Fitchburg plan is part of a wider contraction across the company’s production network. A Las Vegas plant closed in August with 61 jobs affected. Two additional facilities are scheduled to close in December: a Lititz, Pennsylvania, factory on December 14 with 67 affected workers, and a Conover, North Carolina, plant on December 18 with 93 jobs at risk.
Including Fitchburg, the four closures affect 283 positions. The three remaining shutdowns are scheduled within a four-day span in mid-December, concentrating the job losses shortly before Christmas.
The Massachusetts WARN tracker lists Powered by FTGU among notices received in October. The state filing and local reporting identify the December 15 date and 62 affected workers.
As of late October, the company had not publicly explained why it was closing the Fitchburg plant or said where its production would move. It also had not announced what would happen to the Water Street property after operations end.
For Fitchburg, the shutdown will end another chapter at a site with decades of snack-making history. For the company’s employees, it adds a fourth group of workers facing displacement as Our Home rapidly scales back the manufacturing network it expanded in 2024.
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