Fort Myers plant closure to result in 135 layoffs

A Michigan-based fruit processing company is shutting down its plant in Fort Myers, resulting in 135 layoffs in Lee County. Peterson Brands, a subsidiary of Peterson Farms, plans to close its facility at 9910 Bavaria Road, according to an April 27 letter filed with the state in accordance with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN). The plant had been used to package shelf-stable fruit juices in aseptic liter boxes, cups and pouches for health care, schools, military, airlines, cruise lines and other food service-related industries.

By June 27, the entire workforce at the Fort Myers plant will have lost their jobs as a result of the "total plant shutdown," which will be permanent, Peterson Farms COO Richard Raffaelli says in the WARN letter. Positions at the facility range from accounting clerk to food safety quality technician to machine operator to palletizer to human resources generalist. There is no union for employees, and there will not be any bumping rights for affected workers, according to the WARN letter.

A Peterson Farms human resources executive did not immediately respond to a question about why the plant was closing or whether its juice packaging operations would be moved to another location.

Around the country, Peterson Farms operates a few other facilities dedicated to food processing. Among them are Peterson Farms Fresh in Shelby, Michigan, where the company is headquartered; Lakewood Organics in Miami; and Fresh Innovations in Stockton, California. It also runs Oceana County Freezer Storage in Shelby, Michigan, which it says is the largest freezer storage facility in the Midwest, and JVC Enterprises, which provides temperature-controlled trucking services, in Byron Center, Michigan.

Previously, the Fort Myers plant had been the home of King Brands, a shelf-stable juice packaging company, which was acquired by the Peterson Farms family of companies in 2024.

The nearly 3.3-acre site where the plant is located on Bavaria Road contains more than 33,000 square feet of building space, according to Lee County property records. King Brands Warehouse LLC, which is registered to John H. King III of Naples, owns the property after purchasing it for $2.75 million in 2007, according to Lee County property records.