Velva town leaders don’t blame Dot for pretzel plant closure

Velva, N.D. (KXNET)–We’re now hearing more information about a business closure in Velva.

Earlier this week, we reported that the Hershey Company announced they were shutting down the Dot’s Pretzel plant.

City and state leaders we spoke with say the news impacts just under 30 workers in Velva.

The property is owned by Dorothy Henke, though she sold the company to Hershey two years ago.

Velva city commission president Mike Schreiner says the town was blindsided by the news, and he’s disappointed they weren’t approached first by Hershey to try and work out a solution to avoid closing the plant.

“Again, I really wish they would’ve reached out to us, so, we’d have an opportunity to pitch something or keep it here or keep part of it here,” Schreiner said. “That would’ve been great. But that train’s left the station, I guess.”

A Hershey spokesperson says because of the physical limitations of the building and cost of running the plant, they opted to close down.

Schreiner says Dorothy has already been in talks with other potential businesses about who could potentially move in and use the space.