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J & J Snack Foods California Layoffs 2025: What Employees Should Know

J & J Snack Foods has a layoff notice on file with California's Employment Development Department (EDD) under the state's Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, covering 129 jobs in San Bernardino County. That is what the state has published since July 2025. If you were one of them, here is what the filing says, how much notice the law asks for, and what to look at before you sign anything.

What the filing says

These are the details as J & J Snack Foods reported them to the state. The EDD publishes every notice, and this page reflects the data as of Jul 31, 2026.

LocationCountyNotice givenJobs endWorkersType
Via Lata ColtonSan Bernardino CountyOct 31, 2025Dec 30, 2025129Closure Permanent

How much notice the law requires

California's WARN Act requires 60 days of advance written notice before a covered mass layoff. What makes the California version unusual is how few ways out it gives an employer. The only statutory exception is a physical calamity or an act of war. Federal law has three exceptions, including one for unforeseeable business circumstances, and the California Legislature deliberately declined to copy them.

What this filing shows

This filing shows 60 calendar days between the notice date and the date the jobs end. That is at or above the 60 days the statute describes.

This is a fact drawn from the public filing, not a conclusion that anyone broke the law. The date an employer records is not always the date workers were told, employers of different sizes are covered differently, and exceptions can apply. Whether it means anything in your case is exactly what a free consultation sorts out.

J & J Snack Foods severance: what to check before you sign

A severance offer is not the same thing as the notice pay the WARN Act describes, and an employer cannot use one to satisfy the other. A release may also give up more than you expect, and an arbitration agreement you signed at hire can affect where a dispute is heard. Read our full guide to the California WARN Act before you decide, and consider having the paperwork looked at.

Two things worth doing this week either way. File for unemployment now, because WARN money does not reduce it. And keep every document, including the notice itself and anything showing when it arrived.

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Questions people are asking

What is the J & J Snack Foods severance package?

The WARN notice J & J Snack Foods filed with the state does not list severance terms, and we do not publish any employer's package. A WARN notice reports how many jobs end, where, and when. Severance is a separate contract offered at the employer's discretion. California law does not require it, and an employer cannot use contractual severance to satisfy what the WARN Act requires, so being offered a package does not by itself answer whether notice pay is also owed. If you have an offer in hand, the terms in front of you are the ones that matter, and they are worth reading closely before the deadline on them runs.

Am I owed severance from J & J Snack Foods?

California law does not require severance on its own, and a severance offer is a separate thing from WARN pay. An employer cannot use contractual severance to satisfy its WARN obligation, so being offered a package does not answer whether notice pay is also owed.

Does taking the severance reduce what I could recover?

It depends on why the money is being paid. Severance the employer was already obligated to provide — under a contract, a policy, a benefit plan, or a union agreement — cannot be set against what the WARN Act requires. A payment that is genuinely voluntary and unconditional, one the employer had no legal obligation to make, can reduce that liability. Wages for work you actually performed during the notice period are not voluntary severance at all. Which category an offer falls into is a question about the document in front of you, not about the layoff, and it is one of the better reasons to have the paperwork read before the deadline on it runs.

Does it matter that this was filed as a closure?

It can. California's WARN Act covers a closure, a mass layoff, and a relocation, and the thresholds are not identical. A closure means the site itself is shutting down rather than shedding part of its staff, which can change who is counted and whether the statute applies at all. It also tends to mean there is no role to be recalled to.

What if I did not get 60 days of notice?

California's WARN Act requires 60 days of advance written notice before a covered mass layoff, and its only statutory exception is a physical calamity or an act of war. That is far narrower than federal law, which has three exceptions. This filing shows 60 days, at or above the 60 the statute describes. Notice can still fall short in practice if it did not reach you when the filing says, or if it lacked what the statute requires it to contain.

Can I still collect unemployment?

Yes. Under Labor Code section 1407, WARN-related payments are not treated as wages for unemployment purposes, so they cannot be used to deny or reduce your benefits in California. You do not have to wait for your last day — the filings here run through Dec 30, 2025 — and filing early is generally better than filing late.

Does taking a new job hurt my claim?

No. Wages you earn at a new job during the notice period do not reduce what a former employer may owe under WARN. You do not need to delay a job search to protect a claim.

How long do I have to act?

Generally three years. The federal WARN Act sets no limitations period of its own, so courts borrow the closest state deadline, which in California is the three-year period for a liability created by statute. The clock starts when you suffer an employment loss, not when the notice went out. Measured from the last day of work in this filing, Dec 30, 2025, three years runs to about Dec 30, 2028. If this was a layoff rather than an outright termination, the loss may not count until the layoff has lasted more than six months, which can start the clock later still. Treat all of it as an outer edge rather than a plan. Other claims arising from the same layoff run much shorter, and a severance offer usually carries its own deadline measured in days.

What has been reported

Press coverage of this layoff, summarized and attributed. This is reporting rather than the filing itself, and we did not independently verify it.

The Colton plant is one of three manufacturing facilities J&J Snack Foods is closing — alongside sites in Atlanta and Holly Ridge, North Carolina — under Project Apollo, a business transformation program the company launched after a challenging fiscal 2025, Supply Chain Dive reported.

CEO Daniel Fachner told analysts that production from the closing plants "will either be consolidated into other facilities or discontinued" as part of the company's portfolio optimization, and that the closures are expected to yield roughly $15 million of the program's targeted $20 million in annualized savings, according to Food Business News.

Details worth knowing

  • The company said the plant-closure savings should be "materially complete" in the second quarter of its fiscal 2026, with the three closures wrapping up by the end of the first fiscal quarter, per Supply Chain Dive and Food Business News.

Sources: Supply Chain Dive (opens in a new tab)Food Business News (opens in a new tab)

What the numbers show

  • The 129 affected positions are in Via Lata Colton.
  • The notice is filed as a closure rather than a partial reduction, meaning the site itself is shutting down.
  • By headcount it sits in the top 30% of the 593 employer layoffs tracked here.
  • The notice arrived in October 2025, the busiest month in this dataset: California employers filed 217 WARN notices statewide.
  • The 129 workers leaving J & J Snack Foods re-enter a job market where San Bernardino County unemployment stood at 5.2% in June 2026, level with the statewide rate (Bureau of Labor Statistics, not seasonally adjusted).

These are counts and comparisons drawn from the published filings, not findings about J & J Snack Foods.

Free job-search help near Via Lata Colton

America's Job Center of California is the state's no-cost network for laid-off workers: help filing and keeping unemployment benefits, federally funded retraining, and résumé and interview coaching. Your WARN notice may name one; this is the closest to the site in this filing.

Locations and hours change — confirm before visiting, or find another center with the EDD's center locator (opens in a new tab). Directory: U.S. Department of Labor, Jul 31, 2026; distances are straight-line from the address in the filing.

Other layoffs filed in San Bernardino County around the same time

34 employers have WARN notices on file in San Bernardino County, covering 4,638 workers. These filed within about a quarter of this one.

Listed because they appear in the same county in the same public data. No connection between these employers is implied.

Key points

Each point is explained and sourced above · Verified July 31, 2026

Key points from J & J Snack Foods California layoffs 2025, verified as of July 31, 2026

  • Workers affected · San Bernardino County · published since July 2025

    129

    CA EDD WARN report

  • Notices filed · California · published July 2025 to July 2026

    1

    CA EDD WARN report

  • Jobs end · As filed

    Dec 30, 2025

    CA EDD WARN report

  • Days between notice and last day · Arithmetic on two published dates

    60 calendar days

    CA EDD WARN report

  • San Bernardino County unemployment rate · vs 5.2% statewide, not seasonally adjusted

    5.2% (June 2026)

    BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics

  • Notice California law describes · California

    60 days before a covered mass layoff

    Lab. Code § 1401

  • Available exceptions · California

    Physical calamity or act of war only

    Lab. Code § 1401

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