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By Titus Mohler and Stephen Faleski

Operations at Keurig Dr Pepper’s Windsor roasting plant are now set to cease on Wednesday, April 30, according to Isle of Wight County Economic Development Director Kristi Sutphin.

Keurig Dr Pepper, the beverage manufacturer that produces the Dr Pepper and Snapple brands and the single-serve K-cups used in Keurig coffeemakers, had announced in July 2024 that the 330,000-square-foot facility that has operated in the county’s Shirley T. Holland Intermodal Park on the outskirts of Windsor since 2012 would close by the end of 2024.

But then that closure was delayed.

Sutphin, whose economic development department had been working with Keurig to market the building to a new user and assist the plant’s 379 workers with finding new employment, said at a November 2024 county supervisors meeting that she had learned the company would extend operations into the first quarter of 2025.

She said the extension was the result of products manufactured at the Windsor plant and shipped to Tennessee being damaged when Hurricane Helene hit the midwestern state in late September.

Katie Gilroy, senior director of corporate communications for Keurig, said on Nov. 19 that “due to evolving supply chain needs of the business, we will be maintaining production at our Windsor facility through early 2025,” but she declined to specify whether Helene had prompted the decision.

“We’ve confirmed that we own the building and the land and intend to sell it over closing, however, we have no more specifics to provide at this time beyond that, such as a timetable,” she told the Windsor Weekly on March 26 when asked about a tentative timetable for any potential sale.

Sutphin responded March 14 to a Windsor Weekly inquiry focused on learning if the plant was still on track to close by the end of March and if a buyer had been found.

“I am not aware of any pending sale of the Keurig property,” Sutphin said. “All public marketing efforts by the brokers and economic development are on hold for now, per Keurig’s representatives.”

She said, “The new terminal date for operations is now April 30, and then it will take some additional time to dismantle and remove equipment.”

In July 2024, Gilroy stated that the then-planned Dec. 31 closing aligned with a production ramp-up at Keurig’s Spartanburg, South Carolina, manufacturing facility. The Windsor closure “enables us to rebalance our production capacity geographically and advance our effort to operate efficiently,” she said at that time.

Keurig confirmed in August that it planned to sell the plant once operations ceased, and had as of that month received multiple inquiries.