Less than a week after their petition seeking to reorganize under Chapter 11 Bankruptcy was dismissed, Pure Prairie Poultry (PPP) in Charles City has ceased operations.
In a statement, George Piechel, one of the owners of the chicken processing plant, said, “While we continue to explore options, including possible buyers for our operations, our efforts to restart the plant on a limited basis have proven unsuccessful. Without a viable operating plan, we are discontinuing operations at our Charles City production plant effective immediately.”
Peichel added, “Regrettably, this decision will result in the layoff of substantially all of our operations personnel effective immediately. A core team working on critical issues will remain on site.”
KCHA/KCZE has learned that plant employees were notified Wednesday (10.02) their positions had been eliminated, effective immediately.
PPP had sought Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Minnesota on September 20th. Their petition noted liabilities between $100 million and $500 million owed to between 200 and 999 creditors, including over $500,000 to the City of Charles City. PPP also said they were also attempting to sell the plant.
After other creditors objected to the bankruptcy plan, Pure Prairie had the petition dismissed last Friday (09.27). On Monday (09.30), Tracy Miller, senior director of brand and marketing for Pure Prairie, said that while the company looks at restructuring options outside of the courts, PPP would curtail or suspend operations to conserve cash and to meet commitments to processing chickens.
At that time, Miller said no employees had been laid off, but all contract workers through local staffing agencies, including Masterson Staffing (owed almost $2 million) were no longer working at the plant.
That all changed with Pure Prairie ceasing operations on Wednesday.
