KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Friday is a sad day for many who work and live in downtown Kansas City and have found pleasure in the coffee aroma wafting from the Folgers Coffee Plant on Broadway.
“Every morning when I went out to my car, it smelled like coffee and it’s just kind of pleasant,” said neighbor Brett Self.
For the last four years, Vince Robertson has enjoyed calling the coffee giant his neighbor.
“It’s probably the best smell in the world,” said Robertson. “Waking up to it just smells fantastic.”
Although they knew it was coming, it hasn’t softened the blow for many who hoped to reverse the plan to close the plant. A Facebook page dedicated to keeping the plant opened gained some 15,000 likes. But that effort, coupled with the support of Missouri State Representative Mike Talboy, wasn’t enough to sustain it.
In March 2010, J.M. Smucker, the parent company of Folgers Coffee, announced it would close the plant in a streamlining measure. At that time, the Folgers plant had about 180 employees.
Now all coffee production is being consolidated in New Orleans, which is near a port where the coffee beans are shipped, according to the Kansas City Business Journal.
J.M. Smucker said by closing the Kansas City plant, as well as three others, the company will save $60 million annually.
Sara Paxton grew up in Kansas City and always loved the smell of coffee downtown.
“Kansas City wouldn’t be the same, wouldn’t smell the same, feel the same,” Paxton says, “it’s iconic for us for Kansas City.”
Her partner at Evans Media Group, which specializes in social media, says the second Paxton heard the news, he saw her spring into action. That’s when the “Please don’t close the Kansas City Folgers plant!!” Facebook page was born.
“It was a very fast response, four days into it we had over 10,000 fans,” Paxton says.
There were bumper stickers and lots of talk about it on Twitter and Facebook, even a letter writing campaign to Smuckers and a campaign to call the governor’s office. But as of now, it still only has 15,000 fans, which Evans says was just not enough to make Smuckers take notice.
“15,000 Likes on a page is a lot by most standards, but in a day and age when a kid with a light saber can get 8 million views on YouTube, it’s not that much,” Evans says.
What the page has accomplished is bringing people together. Paxton says it’s offered the community a sort of group therapy, and a place to reminisce, and people have shared stories about their multi-generations working at Folgers. And lately there’s been an effort to help Folgers workers stay in Kansas City instead of relocating to New Orleans, where all Folgers coffee production has been moved.
“(I’ve) been here four years and I love it,” said Folgers employee Susan McMurray.
“There are now people talking about jobs, do you know of any jobs, hiring, and here are some that are hiring,” Paxton says.
Evans and Paxton say it’s a sad day for those losing their jobs and for their families, but they say all of Kansas City is also sad to see the end of an era.
“They’ll shutter the building. I’m sure it will be repurposed into lofts or another factory or something,” Evans says, “but the history goes away as of today.”
Smuckers has not yet announced what will become of the building. The company says it is working with employees to relocate or get information about other jobs, even offering training, resume help and tuition reimbursement.
So, even though we won’t be able to savor the smell of coffee beans any longer, FOX 4 dug through the archives to find these classic Folgers’ commercials. Click here for the complete set, courtesy of archive.org.