New Braunfels Smoker Co. will close
Frank Mancuso
By L.A. Lorek
Express-News Business Writer
Web Posted : 03/27/2002 12:00 AM
In a town known for its smoked barbecue, New Braunfels
will
soon have one less plant to produce heavy-gauge steel
smokers,
grills and fryers.
The New Braunfels Smoker Co. plans to shut down its
90,000-square-foot plant and lay off 170 employees, said
Marv
Leiberman, president of New Braunfels Smoker Co.
Leiberman,
also president of Columbus, Ga.-based Bradley Leisure
Products,
said the plant will stop manufacturing on Aug. 1 and
completely
close Oct. 1.
However, the New Braunfels Smoker Co. name will live on,
even
though the products no longer will be made in Texas.
Production
will shift to plants in Georgia and outside the U.S.,
Leiberman
said.
The shutdown means an even greater hit to New Braunfels'
manufacturing base.
A year ago, the Mission Valley Textile Plant shut down,
tossing
several hundred people out of work.
"It's always a loss when you have something like this
happen,"
said Michael Meek, president of the Greater New Braunfels
Chamber of Commerce. "We know nothing stays the same in
the
world economy. We are shifting from the industrial age to
the
knowledge age."
The company makes smokers in models such as the Silver
Smoker,
Bandera, Hondo, Black Diamond and Cattleman. It also makes
grills with models such as the Luckenbach, Judge, Deluxe
Barrel
and Little Joe, as well as Oklahoma Joe's smoker and
barbecue
products.
New Braunfels Smoker's products are sold in the U.S at
major
retail chains.
The privately held W.C. Bradley & Co. bought the New
Braunfels
Smoker Co. in 1997.
The company's Char-Broil division is the world's leading
producer
of outdoor barbecue gas and electric grills.
Tyler Hopper
"Frank Mancuso" <fr...@saintarnold.com> wrote in message
news:3CA304DD...@saintarnold.com...
> Bad news from here in Central Texas:
>
> 90,000-square-foot plant and lay off 170 employees, said
> Marv
> Leiberman, president of New Braunfels Smoker Co.
> Leiberman,
> also president of Columbus, Ga.-based Bradley Leisure
> Products,
> said the plant will stop manufacturing on Aug. 1 and
> completely
> close Oct. 1.
>
> However, the New Braunfels Smoker Co. name will live on,
> even
> though the products no longer will be made in Texas.
> Production
> will shift to plants in Georgia and outside the U.S.,
> Leiberman
> said.
See what happens when some bunch of numb nuts get hold of a decent little
hometown company? Campbell's did the same to Pace's here in S.A.
Screw them.
_________
ht_redneck
Jack Schidt
"Tyler Hopper" <tho...@swbell.net> wrote in message
news:sOKo8.72775$Dv6.2...@typhoon.austin.rr.com...
I still hold a serious grudge against Stroh's for buying Ballantine brewery
and immediately eliminating the ballantine india pale ale, which for my
money is better than is on the market now, despite the plague of
microbreweries. Sorry to hear about the new braunfels story, but it's the
way things are going nowadays.
Jack
Rob
HT,
Just keep an eye on Shiner Bock and Blue Bell. Hopefully, they do not
sucumb to the same fate.
Will OK Joe's sauce still be made in Seguin?
Q for all!
-Rob <---- now in NC and missing said products.
Chun King
> outside the U.S.
We unemployed people love to hear when more jobs
are being moving out of the U.S., while demand for
foreign (India) workers in the U.S. is still on the rise.
[sigh]
-sw