The frozen food home delivery business formerly known as Schwan’s is pulling out of Nebraska and closing its last 5 delivery centers in the state.
Cygnus Home Service says it’s part of a plan to close 90 Yelloh centers nationwide and focus on just 18 core states, including South Dakota. About 750 employees in sales, field and corporate positions will be affected.
In Nebraska, the Yelloh locations in Cozad, Crete, Gretna, Kearney, and Gering will cease operations December 15, eliminating a total of 41 jobs.
Each employee will be paid through the day after Christmas and remain on the company’s benefit plan, as required by federal law.
Cygnus blames the changes on economic headwinds, rising business costs and “the post-pandemic world” for the decision to concentrate their services to 18 states.
The company emphasizes customers across the U-S can still obtain their favorite items by ordering online, by app, or by phone for shipment via UPS for a set delivery charge dependent on the dollar amount of the order.
The 70-year old Schwan’s name was dropped last year in a rebranding by the family-owned private company to modernize and increase efficiency.
Chief strategy officer Kevin Bouym said at the time that adding online and app orders were a way to become more modern and relevant while providing the same service it always has: grocery delivery.
They were adopted on a trial basis in spring of last year in 3 markets around Chicago, and were in use in about 50 when the rebranding from Schwan’s to Yelloh was announced last August.
At that time, the company served roughly 20,000 neighborhoods and 2 million customers across the country.