Laid off from US Foods.

What US Foods layoffs have meant for employees

The reasons US Foods gave for closing its Lakeland, Severn and West Sacramento warehouses were about the business at each site. Lakeland's memo, as The Ledger reported it, cited "a significant loss of business"; a spokeswoman told the Baltimore Sun that Severn's closing came down to "declining case volume in the Washington D.C. area market"; and in a statement reported by KCRA, a spokesperson said the West Sacramento decision followed "a careful evaluation of our distribution footprint in the region." The company's 2016 annual report described its Maryland closing as one that "transferred volume to lower cost distribution facilities." In all three places the company planned to shift the work to other US Foods sites. If your own center is closing, it's worth learning early which one is picking up its customers, because a job there, if you're offered one, can come with a longer drive, a different shift or different pay.

At West Sacramento, the notice's dates and the center's planned closing didn't line up. KCRA reported that the filing gave April 6 as its effective date while California's WARN report lists May 18, and the company put the closing in November 2025, with part of the staff to leave in April and the rest to stay on while the work moved out. If a notice reaches you, it's worth confirming whether its date is your own last day or only the first group's, since pay, benefits and, where it's offered, severance timing can depend on the answer.

Union contracts cover 22% of US Foods associates, a share its 2025 annual report gives, and Severn is where the record shows the company and a union fighting over a closing. The Teamsters said US Foods bargained in bad faith about shutting the warehouse, and the union said locals in Illinois, Michigan, New York and Ohio honored the Severn picket line, a right the Sun said their contract with US Foods gave them. If you're in a unit covered by one of those contracts, it's worth reading what the contract itself says about a closing, and if the company makes you an offer, setting the two side by side. The same annual report identified 11 agreements, covering about 2,100 associates, as scheduled for renegotiation during fiscal 2026.

Cuts reached past the warehouses in 2015 and 2016, the stretch in which Sysco's deal to buy US Foods fell apart and the company went public. Sysco's agreement to buy the company was terminated on June 26, 2015, after regulatory approvals weren't obtained, and the 2016 annual report says sales growth had slowed while potential new customers hesitated. About $30 million of 2015 costs, mostly employee separation costs, went to a field reorganization that runs distribution centers from hubs and regions, by the same report's count. The corporate cuts followed, and a spokeswoman told the Chicago Tribune they would affect a "small percentage" of corporate employees once expected attrition was counted. For office and field support staff, those programs show cuts made by reorganizing rather than by closing a site, and the corporate one was set to play out over many months rather than land on one date.

In 2020 US Foods used furloughs alongside its layoffs, and its 2020 annual report lists what it did for the people affected. It waived employee health insurance premiums for associates on unpaid, temporary furlough, contracted some distribution associates out to grocery retailers and other customers, and let 401(k) participants take penalty-free distributions and pause loan repayments. If a furlough rather than a layoff is what you're facing, whether your premiums are covered while you're out and when you're expected back are both worth having in writing.

California, Illinois, Maryland and Florida all have US Foods notices in our WARN tracker, and each state's claim rules are laid out for California, Illinois, Maryland and Florida. If a separation agreement is offered to you, negotiating severance covers terms that can be negotiated, and if you had US Foods health coverage, how COBRA works covers continuing it after you leave.

A sourced history of US Foods layoffs

• February to July 2025, West Sacramento warehouse closing notices

  A February 4 notice in California's WARN report covered 118 jobs, and our WARN tracker logs a second notice, in July, for 48 more. US Foods told KCRA the center would close in November 2025, with its work moving to neighboring distribution centers.

• July 2024, permanent layoff notice at Vista, California

  US Foods filed a July 11 notice, listed in California's WARN report, for 97 permanent layoffs at 1201 Park Center Drive in Vista, San Diego County, effective September 14.

• 2020, pandemic furloughs, layoffs and two facility closings

  US Foods furloughed workers or cut hours mostly from March through August and, according to its 2020 annual report, laid off about 5% of its associates over the year and separately closed two facilities.

• October 2016, headquarters and Tempe office job cuts

  US Foods announced plans on October 20 to make its corporate support functions more efficient and confirmed layoffs over 12 to 18 months, which sources told the Chicago Tribune would cost hundreds of positions at its suburban Chicago headquarters and Tempe, Arizona, support office.

• April 2016, Severn, Maryland closing and Teamsters strike

  US Foods notified Maryland in April, according to the Baltimore Sun, that it would lay off 304 Severn workers and move operations to Pennsylvania and Virginia. In October the Teamsters reached a tentative agreement, reported by Meatingplace, to end their strike over severance and closure issues.

• May 2015, Lakeland, Florida warehouse closing announced

  US Foods planned to start moving Lakeland's operations to Tampa and Port Orange on August 3 and close the warehouse by fall, according to an employee memo reported by The Ledger; Florida's notice in our WARN tracker lists 206 jobs.

What to do if you're laid off from US Foods

• File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. US Foods's biggest hubs: California, Illinois, Maryland, 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 US Foods's hub states run: California, Illinois, Maryland, 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.