I received a call this morning from a reader who worked at the Wichita Unilever plant when it was still operating as J&G Products.
We reported this morning that in the next couple of months the 44-year-old business is closing.
The caller said the plant was previously located in the 200 block of Rock Island in Old Town, and relocated to its present location at 5015 S. Water Circle about the same time that redevelopment of the historic district began.
When she started there, she said there were about 20 employees. Much later it had as many as 250 employees, she said.
At one time, its business was more than just producing seasonings. It also had a mill shop, she said, that manufactured booths and did other fabrication work for Pizza Hut restaurants.
Once, when her sister’s home had been devastated by a flood in Augusta, her co-workers at the plant all chipped in and donated $4,000 to help her sister — who also worked at the plant — get back on her feet.
She wanted to tell me, too, that so often we only think about aircraft in this town. She pointed out that there are many other wonderful companies here that people don’t know about. This, she said, was one of them.
And now, it’s leaving us.