General Mills to Close Missouri Manufacturing Plants

General Mills announced on Wednesday that it will be shutting down three manufacturing facilities in Missouri as part of an ongoing strategy to enhance its supply chain efficiency.

Among the closures is the pizza crust manufacturing plant in St. Charles, which was previously acquired along with two other facilities in Joplin and the White Bridge Pet brand for $1.45 billion in 2024, according to company’s spokesperson Molly Wolf.

Production at these locations, specifically the Joplin and St. Charles plants, will be transitioned to other facilities. “General Mills is closing two plants in Joplin and the St. Charles pizza crust facility,” she shared.

This changes not only affect General Mills’ operations but the lives of employees as well. Many workers from the Whitebridge facility are expected to transition to the existing Joplin site, however, those from TNT Pizza Crust will have support in finding positions at other company locations.

While production at the Joplin plant is anticipated to finish by July 2026, the St. Charles facility is scheduled to close by the end of June in the same year. General Mills is also looking to consolidate its assets elsewhere.

The restructuring will likely result in an estimated cost of $82 million. It’s expected that around $49 million of that amount will be recorded in the second quarter of 2026, according to reports.

In the backdrop of all this, the Minnesota-based company is targeting a $100 million savings initiative for fiscal 2026.

Additionally, earlier this year, General Mills announced its intentions to eliminate artificial colors from all its cereals in the U.S. and K-12 school foods by the summer of 2026, with plans to continue this initiative into 2027 for remaining retail products.