The meal kit company HelloFresh, which has three distribution centers in New Jersey, filed a required WARN notice with the state on Monday announcing plans to close its Swedesboro facility in Gloucester County and cut 374 jobs, effective Nov. 17.
The company said its Swedesboro operations will be integrated into its broader fulfillment network, although it did not specify whether its New Jersey distribution centers in Newark and Totowa will absorb the work or whether it will be done by facilities elsewhere. In 2025 and 2026, the company also announced layoffs tied to facility closings in Texas and Illinois.
HelloFresh is the latest in a series of household-name employers that recently announced plans to downsize New Jersey operations, expand outside the Garden State, or relocate operations entirely in another state.
Earlier in July, Mars Wrigley announced it was closing its headquarters in Newark and eliminating 307 jobs in October as part of a $100 million expansion in Chicago. Samsung also announced last month it is relocating its U.S. corporate headquarters in Englewood Cliffs to Plano, Texas, affecting 739 jobs in September.
Other large corporate layoffs announced in July and August via WARN notices filed with the state Department of Labor & Workforce Development in July include:
- 322 workers from East-Hanover based Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation
- 282 workers from Verizon Corporate Resources Group LLC
- 139 workers from Vineland glass manufacturer Gerresheimer
- 173 workers from JPMorgan Chase in Jersey City
- 86 workers from The Cannabist Company’s Vineland cultivation facilities
Some of the layoffs, including those at Verizon, Novartis and JPMorgan Chase, appear to be more related to operational disruptions rather than company decisions to move operations to new corporate homes in other states, such as Samsung and Mars Wrigley are doing.
Senate Majority Leader Anthony Bucco (R-25) issued a statement on Tuesday saying that the HelloFresh layoffs are a “warning sign” that New Jersey’s challenging business climate is moving in the wrong direction.
In June, Focus NJ documented the tax and workforce consequences of eight high-profile departures from New Jersey in its Missed Opportunities analysis. These corporate decisions to expand in other states or move operations entirely have cost the state over 7,000 jobs, nearly $675 million in annual payroll and approximately $27.3 million in annual income tax revenue over the past decade or so, the analysis found.
