Big Heart Pet Brands to leave Pittsburgh, affecting 225 jobs
Big Heart Pet Brands is closing its location on the North Shore by early 2016 and leaving Pittsburgh, a move that will affect 225 jobs.
Thursday's announcement occurs five months after the company was purchased by J.M. Smucker Co. The new owner plans to consolidate the operations to its Orrville, Ohio, headquarters by April 30.
Big Heart's offices in Pittsburgh are administrative, handling accounting, information technology, customer service and human resources. About 100 people will be given the option to relocate, said J.M. Smucker spokeswoman Maribeth Burns.
“While difficult, this decision to consolidate our teams will allow us to leverage our existing systems infrastructure at our headquarters while promoting consistency and efficiency in our service to our consumers and customers,” Burns said in a statement Thursday morning.
Burns declined to comment on the financial impact from closing the Pittsburgh location.
The departure of Big Heart marks the end of a steady withdrawal from Pittsburgh that began in 2002 when H.J. Heinz Co. sold portions of its business to Del Monte Foods. Last year, Del Monte changed its name to Big Heart to reflect its focus on pet foods following the sale of its canned foods business to a Philippines company for $1.68 billion.
Before that sale, Del Monte had 330 employees in Pittsburgh.
The departure means the building owner will have to find a new marquee tenant. The building is owned by North Shore Developers LP, a partnership including Columbus, Ohio-based Continental Real Estate Cos., the Steelers and the Pirates.
Barry Ford, Continental's president of development, did not return messages.
Smucker's purchase of Big Heart in February thrust the packaged foods company into the pet-food market, which it pegged at a $21 billion-a-year industry. Big Heart's brands include Meow Mix, Kibbles 'n Bits and Milk-Bone. The Smucker deal was valued at $5.8 billion, including $2.6 billion in debt.
The move to close the Pittsburgh offices occurs as Smucker reported a $90.3 million loss in the fourth quarter that ended April 30, largely because of costs related to the Big Heart acquisition.
But the company has been struggling with pressures on its coffee business, which includes Folgers and Dunkin' Donuts brands. Coffee prices have risen amid concerns that unusually hot weather in Brazil will hurt coffee bean production. The company's coffee sales decreased 1 percent in the fourth quarter.
Big Heart had net sales of $244.5 million in the six weeks that Smucker owned the business before the end of its fiscal year.
Chris Fleisher is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-320-7854 or cfleisher@tribweb.com. Trib staff writer Tom Fontaine contributed.
