Announced since 2019, the closure of the Whippet cookie factory will become a reality next August. About 150 workers are affected.
Posted at 9:00 a.m.
The news was announced to employees last May. These were not taken by surprise. The factory was first scheduled to close in 2020, then the fateful date was pushed back to 2021.
“During COVID, issues including travel restrictions have delayed the full implementation of our expansion at our Cambridge, Ontario plant,” Sidney Dare, media relations manager at Dare Foods, said in an email. . “We are grateful for the dedication and flexibility of these employees at the Saint-Lambert plant, particularly during this difficult period which preceded the closing of the plant,” she adds.
This will then be the end of Whippets made in Quebec. The popular marshmallow and chocolate biscuit was created in 1901 by the Viau biscuit factory. Proof of the place it occupies in the popular history of Quebec, the Whippet was entitled to its exhibition at the Écomusée du fier monde in 2008.
As for the dilapidated factory inaugurated in 1963, it will be demolished to make way for a residential development.
In this regard, the Dare Coupal project – named after the previous occupants of the premises, Dare and Rona-Matériaux Coupal –, led by the promoter Pur Immobilia, provided for the construction of a series of buildings of three to eight floors very close to the station, as well as local shops and several green spaces.
In response to popular discontent, the City of Saint-Lambert has since proposed a new special urban plan limiting the number of floors on the two lots. Public consultations are scheduled for this month. The adoption of urban planning tools is scheduled for July.
Expansion in Sainte-Martine
Dare still has a presence in Quebec, in Sainte-Martine, in Montérégie. In particular, Grissol brand rusks and croutons are made there.
“We are introducing a new line of products there, we are expanding the building, we are installing a new production line and we are hiring new employees to work on this new line and this new product,” said Sidney Dare, without giving more details. details.
A privately owned Canadian family business that began operations in 1892, Dare currently employs 1,300 people. Its cookies, crackers, rusks and candies are sold in more than 50 countries.