Good news, bad news and… What the heck?
Wednesday, Nov 4, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Good news for the city…
Kraft Heinz announced Wednesday that it will move Oscar Mayer and the company’s U.S. meats business from Madison, Wis., to Chicago — a move that will add 250 jobs to Chicago’s Aon Center.
* Bad news for Downstate manufacturing…
Kraft will eliminate an undisclosed number of jobs at its Champaign plant as it moves its cheese production operation to other facilities.
“We are planning to move cheese production from our Champaign, Illinois, facility to other factories within our network,” Michael Mullen, senior vice president of corporate and government affairs for Kraft Heinz, said in a statement. “The move will take approximately 24 months to complete and will make Champaign a center-of-excellence in dry and sauce production. As a result of this decision we do expect there to be job losses in Champaign.”
* And then there’s this…
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Nov 4, 15 @ 5:32 pm:
@FakeLyndseyWalters - #Winning. #Ketchup
- Shemp - Wednesday, Nov 4, 15 @ 5:33 pm:
I know, I know, what is good for Chicago is good for us downstaters…
- The_Equalizer - Wednesday, Nov 4, 15 @ 5:34 pm:
Moving out of a right to work state? That’s crayzee!
- illini - Wednesday, Nov 4, 15 @ 5:36 pm:
So who wins and loses in this whole scenario ???
Does BVR have any stake in these companies?
- Chicago Cynic - Wednesday, Nov 4, 15 @ 5:39 pm:
Vasyl, you are too funny man!
- scott aster - Wednesday, Nov 4, 15 @ 5:44 pm:
Kraft does make mustard don’t they????
- Cheswick - Wednesday, Nov 4, 15 @ 5:59 pm:
I never even knew Oscar Mayer moved out of Chicago in the first place. I guess I’m really behind the times. Glad they’re moving back, though.
- Very Fed Up - Wednesday, Nov 4, 15 @ 6:18 pm:
Haha major party foul. Hopefully they will learn.
- A Citizen - Wednesday, Nov 4, 15 @ 6:20 pm:
What a bunch of weenies!
- Almost the Weekend - Wednesday, Nov 4, 15 @ 6:21 pm:
Wasn’t there a recent multi-million dollar investment in the Champaign facility?
- Arthur Andersen - Wednesday, Nov 4, 15 @ 6:22 pm:
Isn’t it worth a few jobs to be known as a “Center of Excellence in Dry and Sauce?” I couldn’t say that out loud without cracking up.
- Buster - Wednesday, Nov 4, 15 @ 6:23 pm:
To celebrate, Gov. Rauner has invited Little Oscar to dinner at the Mansion. Oscar has accepted and agreed to arrive in the Weinermobile and give the Governor a festive ride around Springfield.
- Juice - Wednesday, Nov 4, 15 @ 6:26 pm:
Cheswick, they moved their HQ to Madison in ‘57. Probably Madigan’s fault.
- JoanP - Wednesday, Nov 4, 15 @ 6:27 pm:
Hey, Vasyl! I’m a Chicagoan born and bred, and I always put ketchup on my hot dog.
- Poolguy - Wednesday, Nov 4, 15 @ 7:14 pm:
Heinz mustard is delicious. im sure they could do some co-branding and re-labeling on that package of hot dogs. sorry to hear about job losses in Champaign however. hopefully they can grow or expand existing or new products at this facility.
- @MisterJayEm - Wednesday, Nov 4, 15 @ 7:15 pm:
The ketchup is okay because Oscar Mayer weiners are really more of a children’s encased meat.
– MrJM
- Vasyl - Wednesday, Nov 4, 15 @ 7:24 pm:
Hey, thanks for the credit, Rich. Hoping you haven’t figured out my pseudonym though.
- Stones - Wednesday, Nov 4, 15 @ 7:30 pm:
I bet BVR uses ketchup on his hot dog.
- Arthur Andersen - Wednesday, Nov 4, 15 @ 7:32 pm:
Buster, if that’s the case, I hope they leave “Weenie Whistles” for the Governor’s staff.
- Levois - Wednesday, Nov 4, 15 @ 7:40 pm:
So Oscar Mayer is coming back to Chicago, alright!
- Wensicia - Wednesday, Nov 4, 15 @ 7:55 pm:
It’s not sacrilegious to put ketchup on a non-beef wiener.
But a Vienna Beef? Hanging offense!
- Norseman - Wednesday, Nov 4, 15 @ 7:58 pm:
I’m still bummed out about the redesign of the weenie whistle. Yes they’re safer, but they’re not the same.
- blue dog dem - Wednesday, Nov 4, 15 @ 8:14 pm:
The cynic in me wants to know the “deal”. Or did deal in wisconsin expire.
- Tone - Wednesday, Nov 4, 15 @ 8:33 pm:
Plochmans is an Illinois company. Buy their mustard.
- Mouthy - Wednesday, Nov 4, 15 @ 8:45 pm:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNddW2xmZp8
The Governor’s new State Theme Song…
- Huh? - Wednesday, Nov 4, 15 @ 8:47 pm:
Talk about a double whammy- Ketchup on a hotdog and now processed meat will cause colon cancer.
It is getting to the point that a guy can’t enjoy life. Next thing you know, the Cubs will win the World Series and Illinois will have a balanced budget.
- Buster - Wednesday, Nov 4, 15 @ 8:57 pm:
Unfortunately for the gov the GA Democrats are already using weenie whistles to warn each other when any of the Gov’s weenie staff members appear.
- Wordslinger - Wednesday, Nov 4, 15 @ 9:21 pm:
I’m an old hired gun, so it ain’t no mystery to me that the Midwest Hqs are going downtown.
That’s where the bosses want to be, but more importantly, that’s where the whiz kids want to be.
Those kids run the show.
Bay Area, NYC, Austin, Chicago — they’ll tell you where the “business” is.
It’s all about landing recruits, baby.
- Arthur Andersen - Wednesday, Nov 4, 15 @ 9:45 pm:
So true, Norseman. The song is not the same.
- Shemp - Wednesday, Nov 4, 15 @ 9:59 pm:
Meanwhile, Kraft is announcing a new plant right across the river in Davenport, Ia. Just sayin.
- AC - Wednesday, Nov 4, 15 @ 10:00 pm:
Oscar Meyer will close a plant that’s been open 100 years while eliminating 1000 jobs. It wasn’t that Madison “77 Square Miles Surrounded by Reality” had become too expensive of a city to operate in. If this has happened here, it’d have been blamed on our business climate, Madigan, and possibly even Edgar, but the reality is that business is always looking to cut costs. So many things that happen with trade are only mildly influenced by public policy, and this is one of them.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Nov 4, 15 @ 10:41 pm:
I am born and bred in Chicago and have Ketchup on hotdogs. I don’t care and whoever made that rule is a dictator.
I will have whatever I want on a hotdog and nobody has a right to tell me otherwise
- Anonymous - Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 12:13 am:
Enough with the ketchup thing, please. It may be funny the first 100 times or whatever but who cares anymore?
- FGFM - Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 7:54 am:
The whole Chicago Hot Dog thing is Vienna Beef propaganda anyway,
- Flynn's mom - Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 7:55 am:
Thanks to Oscar Meyer and the hot dogs they control.
- Flynn's mom - Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 7:55 am:
Mayer
- Angry Chicagoan - Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 7:58 am:
These are tough times, and we have to adapt — and that includes restraining ourselves from making snarky remarks about the use of condiments in hot dog advertising by prospective Chicago companies. It doesn’t mean we actually have to put the wretched stuff on our dogs, OK?
- Almost the Weekend - Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 8:08 am:
=Meanwhile, Kraft is announcing a new plant right across the river in Davenport, Ia. Just sayin.=
The old plant is across the river in Davenport, IA and is a union shop. Just sayin
- Anon. - Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 8:16 am:
They must have heard that Oscar is the State Dog.