HENRICO COUNTY, Va. -- The workers who create several iconic and fan-favorite snack foods celebrated a major milestone Saturday.
Mondelez International workers along with federal, state and local government officials gathered for a ceremony to mark the Richmond Biscuit Manufacturing Plant's 50th anniversary.
The plant in Henrico County makes leading snack brands, including Oreo, Chips Ahoy!, Nilla Wafers, Ritz and Wheat Thins.
Senior Plant Director Katie Ingersoll called the milestone “amazing.”
“This is a big celebration because we have 50 years of operations,” Ingersoll said. “We’ve been right here on Laburnum Avenue since 1973. We’re here to celebrate the next chapter and the next 50 years together.”
Officials said the plant’s 650 employees, their families and friends were invited to celebrate the facility's five decades of operations.
Additionally, 17 of those employees have worked at the bakery for 40 years or more, according to officials with Mondelez.
Retired bakery worker Keith Bregg said celebrating the plant’s anniversary was an “awesome experience.”
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The plant was originally owned by Nabisco and later by Kraft Foods Inc. It now is part of Mondelez, which was created when Kraft Foods split into two companies in 2012.
The Henrico plant remained open after the company shuttered two other bakeries, one in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, and the other in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2021.
The company said in a statement at the time that those plants were "no longer strategic assets from a geographic footprint perspective" and "faced significant operational challenges, including aging infrastructure and outdated production capabilities."
Additionally, striking union members at the Virginia plant accepted a new four-year collective bargaining agreement with Mondelez in 2021, which ended a roughly month-long walkout.
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