Whole Foods to Shutter Northeastern Kitchen

Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods Market has announced plans to shut down its prepared foods facility in Everett, Mass., known as Whole Foods Market North Atlantic Kitchen, which around 70 Northeastern stores relied on for ready-to-eat foods, the Boston Globe reported.

The natural grocer, which will outsource the facility's food preparation to a network of suppliers that will use Whole Foods' recipes, stated that the Everett location is one of three of its regional kitchens that is closing. The decision is “based on a movement toward streamlining operations for prepared foods,” spokeswoman Heather McCready told the newspaper.

According to the Globe, the other two locations set to close are in Landover, Md., and Roswell, Ga. The number of markets serviced by those kitchens was not disclosed.

Whole Foods denied that the Everett facility decision has to do with last February's FDA inspections at the location that discovered several “serious violations,” including evidence of Listeria on surfaces and equipment. The grocer was given until the end of June 2016 to make corrections.