Powered by FTGU LLC, the company behind the Real Food From The Ground Up snack brand, plans to close its plant in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, on Dec. 15, 2026, eliminating 62 jobs. The state logged the company’s layoff notice on Oct. 20, according to the Massachusetts WARN weekly report for the week ending Oct. 23. The Boston Business Journal reported the shutdown on Monday.
Fitchburg Plant Closing at a Glance
- Employer: Powered by FTGU LLC, an affiliate of snack maker Our Home.
- Location: Fitchburg, in the state’s Central region.
- Jobs affected: 62, per the state filing.
- Notice received by the state: Oct. 20, 2026.
- Layoff date listed: Dec. 15, 2026.
- Wider pattern: it is one of four FTGU or Our Home site closures disclosed since August, covering 283 jobs in total by The Boston Report’s count of the published notices.
Who Owns the Fitchburg Snack Plant
The plant changed hands in 2024. In April of that year, Utz Brands agreed to sell two manufacturing plants, including the one in Fitchburg, to Our Home for $18.5 million, the Leominster Champion reported at the time. Under that agreement, Our Home was to make certain Utz products at the sites for up to 12 months. Utz told employees that workers at the plants would move to Our Home, which would keep pay rates and paid time off the same and honor job tenure. The purchase grew Our Home’s manufacturing footprint from five plants to seven.
Our Home is headquartered in Boonton, New Jersey, according to PennLive. Its brands include Popchips, Pop Secret, Food Should Taste Good and You Need This, as well as Real Food From The Ground Up, which sells plant-based snacks such as cauliflower pretzels and potato chips, the Charlotte Observer reported.
Closures in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Nevada
Fitchburg is not the only site affected. The company has disclosed these other closures:
- Lancaster County, Pennsylvania: a plant on West Airport Road in Manheim Township is set to close Dec. 14, with 67 jobs lost, according to a notice filed with Pennsylvania’s labor department. Our Home bought that facility from Utz in 2024 in a separate $182.5 million agreement that also covered sites in North Carolina and Las Vegas and the Good Health and RW Garcia brands, PennLive reported.
- Conover, North Carolina: a facility in Catawba County is due to close by Dec. 16, affecting 93 people, under a notice filed Oct. 19.
- Las Vegas: a closure announced Aug. 25 cut 61 jobs.
The Charlotte Observer said the reason for the North Carolina closure was unclear and that the company had not answered a request for comment. The Boston Report did not find a public statement from Our Home explaining the closures as of Monday morning.
Other Recent Massachusetts Layoff Notices
The same weekly state report lists one other new notice: EyePoint US Inc. plans to cut 105 jobs in Northbridge and Watertown between Dec. 31, 2026, and Jan. 31, 2027. We covered that decision in our report on EyePoint’s Watertown layoffs.
Several larger notices were filed earlier in the state’s fiscal year, which began July 1:
- Frugal Fannie’s Fashion and Shoe Warehouse in Westwood, 214 jobs, layoff date Nov. 23.
- Blueprint Medicines, a Sanofi company, in Cambridge, 229 jobs, phased from Oct. 9 through June 25, 2027.
- TScan Therapeutics in Waltham, 96 jobs, Nov. 2.
- P1 Logistics, an Amazon delivery contractor in Littleton, 77 jobs, starting Oct. 24.
- Metri BWI in Leominster, near Fitchburg, 25 jobs, Oct. 31.
Recent biotech cuts in Greater Boston are tracked in our report on Tango Therapeutics and Fractyl Health.
What the WARN Notice Means for Fitchburg Workers
The federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act generally requires covered employers to give 60 days’ notice before a plant closing or mass layoff, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. In Massachusetts, employers submit those notices to the state, which publishes them in its weekly reports. A notice states the employer’s plan, and actual job losses can differ.
After a notice arrives, the state’s MassHire Rapid Response team contacts the employer to arrange services for affected workers, such as help with job searches and training. Workers who lose their jobs can review weekly payment amounts and filing steps in our guide to Massachusetts unemployment benefits.
Sources
- Massachusetts Department of Career Services, WARN weekly report, week ending Oct. 23, 2026 (state.ma.us)
- Mass.gov: WARN layoff and closure updates
- Boston Business Journal: Snack manufacturer shuts down Massachusetts factory (Oct. 26, 2026)
- Charlotte Observer: Conover snack plant closure (Oct. 22, 2026)
- PennLive: Snack maker to close Lancaster County factory (Oct. 19, 2026)
- Leominster Champion: Utz selling Fitchburg plant to Our Home (April 18, 2024)
Additional sources
- U.S. Department of Labor: WARN Act overview
- Mass.gov: Submit a WARN notice
- Mass.gov: MassHire Rapid Response
Featured image: Downtown Fitchburg, Massachusetts, from the air. Photo by Nick Allen via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.
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