Across the food manufacturing industry, companies have continued consolidating older plants as operating costs and production efficiency pressures reshape where products are made. In Sacramento, Blue Diamond Growers has now moved into another visible stage of that shift, with new layoffs tied to the long-planned closure of its historic facility. The latest reduction shows the California shutdown is still unfolding more than a year after the company announced it would wind down the site.
Blue Diamond confirms another round of Sacramento layoffs
Blue Diamond Growers cut 31 jobs at its facility at 1802 C Street in Sacramento effective September 4, 2026, according to a California WARN notice filed with the Employment Development Department. The notice lists the action as a permanent closure, making clear the reduction is part of the company’s previously announced plan to shut the Midtown Sacramento plant rather than a temporary slowdown. That latest filing adds to a series of 2026 cuts connected to the same closure.
State WARN records and recent reporting show earlier layoff rounds affected 40 workers on August 7, 56 workers on August 21, and 93 workers on August 28 at the same Sacramento operation. KCRA previously reported that Blue Diamond had also outlined a broader 2026 layoff schedule as the plant moved toward closure, with a major final phase expected during the wind-down. The company first announced the Sacramento closure on June 6, 2025.
At the time of that 2025 announcement, Blue Diamond said the winding down of the plant would take place over roughly 18 to 24 months and affect about 600 employees. The cooperative also said some workers would be offered severance, outplacement support, retention incentives during the transition, and in some cases opportunities to move to other company locations. Blue Diamond’s corporate headquarters, the company said, would remain in Sacramento.
What the closure means in Sacramento right now
The confirmed impact is centered on Sacramento, where Blue Diamond is closing a long-standing manufacturing complex that has been part of the city’s food-processing economy for generations. The facility identified in the WARN filings is the company’s Sacramento plant at 1802 C Street, and each newly reported layoff round this summer has been tied to that same closure process. For local workers, the effect is not theoretical: the job losses are arriving in stages rather than all at once.
What remains less clear is the full current breakdown of which departments or job categories are being eliminated in each late-stage round. Blue Diamond has not released a comprehensive public list of all affected Sacramento positions tied to the September 2026 notice beyond what appears in state filings and prior company timelines. Public reporting has also indicated that some roles were retained temporarily to keep parts of the plant operating during the transition.
Local workforce agencies have already been involved. The Sacramento Employment and Training Agency said about 130 Blue Diamond workers attended a June job and resource fair aimed at connecting displaced employees with employment assistance and retraining options. California’s WARN guidance also directs laid-off workers to local America’s Job Center resources, underscoring that the state treats these filings as part of a formal job-loss transition process.
Why Blue Diamond is shutting the plant and what comes next
Blue Diamond tied the closure directly to plant economics when it announced the move in June 2025. In the company’s statement, President and CEO Kai Bockmann said the historic Sacramento buildings had become “too costly and inefficient” to operate, and the cooperative said manufacturing would be consolidated into its existing plants in Salida and Turlock. That explanation has remained the central, publicly stated reason for the closure.
Company materials describe Blue Diamond as a grower-owned cooperative with large California processing operations, and the Sacramento shutdown is part of a broader effort to streamline those operations. The shift is notable because Sacramento has long been associated with the company’s identity, but Blue Diamond said the practical manufacturing future would be in facilities better suited to modern production needs. Regional reporting has also described the Sacramento site as a decades-old industrial complex facing structural and logistical limits.
For residents and customers, the immediate effect is primarily on employment and the city’s industrial footprint rather than on almond products disappearing from store shelves. Blue Diamond said in 2025 that production would continue through its Salida and Turlock plants, and KCRA reported the company’s Sacramento closure was being executed in phases rather than as a single-day shutdown. As of late September 2026, the plant closure is still in progress, and the latest WARN filing shows the final chapter has not yet fully concluded.