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TARRYTOWN, N.Y. About 140 research and development jobs at the Kraft Foods office in Tarrytown will stay in the village instead of moving to another location in the New York-New Jersey area as previously announced, a Kraft spokesperson confirmed Monday.
It was the best decision for employees and their families and for the business, Kraft spokesperson Mike Mitchell said in an email. From the beginning, we indicated that the Beverages R&D team would stay in the area. We're pleased they will be able to stay in Tarrytown.
Kraft announced in January it was relocating about 225 of its employees in the beverages business unit at the Tarrytown office to Chicago by the end of 2012 as part of major company restructuring. Kraft now said about 140 employees in the beverages research and development unit would stay in the area.
Laurence Gottlieb, director of the Westchester County Office of Economic Development, said the development was phenomenal.
We've been having discussions with Kraft for several months trying to make the case that it was good to continue to maintain a presence in Westchester County, he said, adding the county told Kraft if was good especially to maintain a research and development facility in the county because so many food and beverage companies have their headquarters and research and development facilities here.
Mitchell said the plan to move other Tarrytown employees to the Chicago area still would take place.
Having the majority of our businesses physically together lets us more quickly create a shared culture and foster greater collaboration while reducing the overall costs of maintaining multiple facilities, he said. It also provides greater development opportunities for our people.
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