Ferrara Candy will close its Little Village plant in April, cutting 154 jobs. What the City can and can't do

Ferrara Candy Company will close its plant at 2945 W. 31st St. in Little Village in April and lay off 154 workers, Block Club Chicago reported Thursday. The company has notified the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, which state law requires before a mass layoff, Block Club reported.

Why it matters: 154 jobs is a large employer for one neighborhood, and the City's budget fight this fall has been in part about whether new taxes push employers out. A closing like this one also leaves a large industrial site whose next use the City will help decide.

What the company said

• The plant hasn't run at full capacity for several years, and production of Funables Fruity Snacks and Stretch Island Fruit Strips will move to other Ferrara plants, a spokesperson told Block Club, citing "market conditions and our long-term innovation roadmap."
• Workers can stay through the last production day, are encouraged to apply for other company jobs, and eligible workers get severance and outplacement help.
• The company plans to sell the property. Ferrara, founded in Chicago's Little Italy in 1908, keeps its global headquarters in Chicago.

The company closed another Illinois plant two years ago: the Jelly Belly factory in North Chicago, with 66 layoffs, in October 2024, ABC7 reported.

What the City can and can't do

• The closing itself is a private decision. State and federal law, not City law, require the advance notice to workers.
• The site's next use is where the City has a say. A buyer needing a zoning change would go through the Council's Zoning Committee, where the local alderperson's view traditionally carries weight.
• Incentives: we found no City incentive for this address in the Council legislation we track. Property-tax incentives for industrial buildings, such as Class 6(b), need a Council ordinance.

What our records add

The ward. The plant is in the 24th Ward, by our map, represented by Ald. Monique Scott. Her two challengers in February both face petition objections (our story). Block Club didn't report comment from Scott.

The budget link. Scott is one of 28 signers of Tuesday's letter rejecting the Mayor's head tax, a $25 monthly per-employee charge on businesses with at least 125 full-time-equivalent workers (our story). The company gave no tax-related reason for the closing, and the head tax hasn't passed. Voters in nine precincts in four wards, Scott's among them, backed a corporate tax in an advisory question last week (our story).

Other City money nearby. The Council has approved tax increment financing for Park District work at Piotrowski Park, 4247 W. 31st St., in 2025 (O2025-0015978), and renews the Little Village special service area's tax levy every year.

What's next

Production runs until April. We'll follow the property sale and any zoning request.