Owner announces Snyder of Berlin plant to close; 96 employees affected

The company that purchased the Snyder of Berlin potato chip manufacturing plant in 2024 has notified the state Department of Labor and Industry that it intends to permanently close the Berlin facility in February, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice filed on Dec. 3.

A copy of the WARN notice indicates the “total closure” of the PA Potato Chip Manufacturing LLC’s Berlin facility “is expected to be permanent and will affect all employees.”

The majority of the plant’s 96 employees will lose their jobs on Feb. 13, 2026; six employees will remain on site “to assist in the final shutdown and clean up of the facility,” according to the notice. The six remaining employees will be terminated March 13 (one employee), May 15 (three employees), Aug. 14 (one employee) and Dec. 31 (one employee).

State Rep. Carl Walker Metzgar wrote on his official Facebook page: “My office has reached out to both the CEO and CFO of Our Home, the owner of Snyder’s, to determine if there are other options available to preserve these jobs and to analyze the rationale behind their decision. We are also in contact with the Governor’s Action Team to help with our efforts to preserve jobs.

“This is certainly a significant blow to our small, close-knit community. In the event that a resolution is not found with Our Home, an aggressive campaign to attract a new business to that location will be undertaken that will include tax incentives, presuming there is cooperation from local government agencies, he wrote.

Snyder of Berlin has operated in the borough since the 1940s, according to previous reporting by the Daily American.

The business is a significant employer in Berlin Borough and has often been listed as the town’s biggest employer. It was in the top 50 of Somerset County employers as of the second quarter of this year

According to Traci Horning, Berlin Borough executive secretary, the town and borough council has not been notified of a closing as of the afternoon of Dec. 4.

“It is definitely going to affect us in the ways of the electric, the water and sewage and the garbage,” she said. “This is going to have a huge impact on the borough.

“There are things we will need to sit down and discuss as to what is going to happen in the future. Until then there is really nothing much to say,” Horning said.

The Daily American has reached out to Deborah Holt, chief marketing director of Our Home Corp., for comment on the situation and future plans for the employees at the plant.