Minute Maid's decision to discontinue its frozen canned juice is already having negative impacts in Chatham-Kent (CK).
One of the largest producers of the company's cans was Sonoco. Its Chatham plant was forced to lay off six employees, roughly 30 per cent of its workforce.
"[Minute Maid]'s been our largest customer for the last 10 or so years, so to lose that size of a business is substantial," said Rory Scheuneman, manager of Sonoco’s Chatham plant.
The layoffs happened at the end of 2025, as Sonoco was told about the decision before it was officially made public at the end of January.
Despite having months to prepare, Scheuneman explained that losing their largest customer was too hard to handle.
"It's a fairly big impact," he added.
A spokesperson for the Coca-Cola Company, Minute Maid's parent company, explained that the decision was made due to declining customer interest.
"With the juice category growing strongly, we’re focusing on products that better match what our consumers want," read a statement.
The canned products will officially be discontinued by April.
