SODUS, NEW YORK
The Heluva Good!® hard cheese packing plant in Sodus, New York is set to close this summer along with a nearby country store.
Heluva Good! has been located in Sodus since its founding in 1925 and has been a subsidiary of HP Hood of Lynnfield, Massachusetts, since 2004.
HP Hood Spokeswoman Lynne Bohan told the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle that the closures are a result of an agreement between HP Hood and Schreiber Foods Inc., a dairy company based in Wisconsin. Under this agreement, Schreiber will continue to manufacture Heluva Good! cheese in Wisconsin.
"The reason we made this really difficult decision is because in recent years the hard cheese category has become very price competitive, and while we firmly believe that the Heluva Good! brand is a strong, viable brand, we've just been unable to realize the margins necessary to successfully compete in this category as strictly a cut and wrap operation," Bohan said.
According to Syracuse.com, a separate HP Hood plant that makes Heluva Good dips and spreads in Steuben County in the Southern Tier will remain open.
