Frozen-food delivery firm Yelloh to shutter Colorado ops, cut Loveland jobs

LOVELAND — Cygnus Home Service LLC, the direct-to-consumer frozen-food delivery service that does business as Yelloh and was previously called Schwan’s Home Delivery, is ceasing operations in Colorado and laying off workers at four Front Range facilities, including one in Loveland.

More than 50 jobs in the Centennial State will be eliminated by the 70-year-old Minnesota-based company, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice filed this week with the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.

Of those laid-off employees, a dozen work at a Yelloh facility at 3660 Draft Horse Drive in Loveland. The eliminated jobs include sales representatives and material handlers. 

In a letter to state WARN officials, a Yelloh human resources vice president wrote that “Yelloh is closing … facilities and ceasing operations in the state of Colorado, effective Dec. 15, 2023.”

In fact, the company is closing facilities in a number of regions, winnowing its operations to 18 states: Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan,

Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin. 

Challenges related to “economic headwinds, rising business costs and the post-pandemic world” led to the decision to downsize, Yelloh said in a statement. 

“This is a heartbreaking decision for our company, because we cherish our customers, our employees, and the special role our team members play in our local communities. Concentrating our high-touch delivery service in fewer locations – in states that are the foundation for our 70-year-old company – is the best path forward for Yelloh,” the company said. 

The Schwan family split the company into two separate businesses in 2018, with the business that makes food products for retail grocery and food service sold to South Korean food company CJ CheilJedang Corp. for $1.84 billion. The home delivery business, now called Yelloh, is separately owned and operated.

Correction: This story has been corrected to reflect that the Schwan businesses was split in 2018, with one entity sold to CJ CheilJedang Corp. BizWest regrets the error.

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