Laid off from Refresco.

What Refresco layoffs have meant for employees

Refresco, a maker and packager of drinks for brands and retailers, explained three of these closings in almost the same words, and that's worth knowing if you're trying to learn why your plant was chosen. The decision to close Evansville followed an "extensive review of various factors," a spokesperson said to Inside INdiana Business. The Walla Walla statement used those words in 2026, and so did the April 2026 Carlisle letter. Only two of the three go further. At Evansville, the volume was going to other plants so the network could run more efficiently, and Just Drinks put that network at more than 30 North American facilities in 2024. At Carlisle, the letter said production was ending because of what customers needed and what the site cost to run. If you need to explain the end of a Refresco job to an interviewer, a permanent closing notice is the company's own account of a decision about a whole site.

Carlisle shows how far a changed plan reaches. The building stayed in use, but the bottling stopped around the date the first letter gave. Refresco's second letter counted 28 people whose employment ended with it, after nine who left following the announcement, and machine operator titles made up 20 of the people on its list. What the revision changed was the warehouse work, which April's plan had ending around July 11. If you're at a site that gets a closing notice, what happens to the building and what happens to your job can turn out to be separate questions.

Dates inside one plant weren't the same for everyone, either. Schedule A of the April letter set them by job title, from June 24 to December 21, and the Dade City letter allowed for one or more people staying briefly past August 2. That matters where a package depends on staying to a set date, as Carlisle's did. If you're offered one on terms like those and another job comes up first, it's worth weighing the new paycheck against what leaving early could put at risk. Refresco used the same phrase, "comprehensive support and resources," at Evansville and Walla Walla, and only the Evansville statement spelled out what it covered, listing career counseling, job fairs, severance packages and training. The Carlisle letter also told staff they may apply for unemployment benefits in Ohio after their last day worked.

All four plants' paperwork gave the same answer on union representation. Indiana's form, the Dade City letter, the Carlisle letter and the Walla Walla filing Just Drinks quoted each said no union and no bumping rights. Those lines describe those sites only. Hamburg's closing shows a different process, with Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek reporting a social plan agreed with employee representatives. Dade City's letter adds one more detail, Refresco's view that the WARN Act didn't apply because the closing would affect only 42 employees. That's the company's reading of its own case, set down in its own letter.

SunOpta's people have a second history to check. Refresco agreed to buy the company the month before the Walla Walla filing, and the deal closed on May 1, 2026, Business Wire reported, between Carlisle's two letters. The 2017 Carson City severance the Nevada Appeal reported was SunOpta's decision, so it's history rather than a Refresco term. If you worked for SunOpta, its older notices are filed under SunOpta Grains and Foods and SunOpta Healthy Snacks in our WARN tracker, separate from Refresco's name.

A sourced history of Refresco layoffs

• April 2026, Carlisle, Ohio, closing notice revised in July

  Refresco's April letter told Ohio about 63 employees would be affected by a permanent closing, citing customers' needs and high operating costs. Its second letter, received July 14 per the Dayton Daily News, said manufacturing stopped around June 24, the site became a distribution center, and 44 had left or were leaving.

• March 2026, Walla Walla, Washington, plant and warehouses closing

  Refresco filed on March 3 to close the plant for good, affecting 58 employees, Just Drinks reported. Manufacturing was to halt by May 2 and decommissioning finish by June 26, the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business reported.

• June 2024, Dade City, Florida, permanent plant closing

  Refresco's letter to Florida said about 42 employees would finish August 2, 2024, and called it a permanent closing, with no union at the facility and no bumping rights.

• February 2024, Evansville, Indiana, plant closing

  Refresco's notice to Indiana listed 45 jobs in a permanent closure, with layoffs dated March 28 and April 26. A spokesperson told Inside INdiana Business other plants would absorb the volume and named severance packages among the support.

• November 2017, Hamburg, Germany, plant closing and social plan

  Above-average costs drove the closing set for May 31, 2018, with production moving to Calvörde, said Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek, the law firm advising Refresco Hamburg. A social plan was agreed with employee representatives in November 2017.

• September 2017, SunOpta's planned Carson City, Nevada, plant closing

  This plant was SunOpta's, long before the sale to Refresco that Business Wire announced in May 2026. Its human resources chief told the Nevada Appeal the closing planned for December 22 would eliminate 70 jobs and all employees would get severance pay.

What to do if you're laid off from Refresco

• File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. Refresco's biggest hubs: Ohio, Washington, Indiana, Florida. Somewhere else? Every state is here.
• Apply for financial and hardship assistance. Unemployment supplements income, but food benefits, health coverage and utility help are often available as well. Here's some of what Refresco's hub states run: Ohio, Washington, Indiana, Florida, and every other state is here.
• Mind the health insurance window. Losing coverage opens a 60-day special enrollment period, and an ACA plan usually beats unsubsidized COBRA. Compare your options before the employer coverage lapses, and read how the COBRA clocks run if you are weighing it seriously.
• Get your real runway number. Severance plus savings divided by reality. The calculator takes five minutes.
• Know which clocks are already running. Severance review windows, COBRA election, visa grace periods, and 401(k) rollovers all run on federal deadlines that started at termination. All five deadlines are here.