Front Page: J&J Snack Foods Closes its Doors for Good at Holly Ridge Plant

On Thursday, July 31st, Topsail Times Newspaper first reported that J&J Snack Foods, located on Sound Road in Holly Ridge, North Carolina was closing its facility effective immediately. The manufacturing plant had been damaged in a fire in 2024 and was still in reconstruction mode. A meeting was held on the morning of July 31st with employees to announce that effective immediately, the plant was closed.

J&J Snack Foods Hand Helds Corp had purchased the property in May of 2011 for $1,945,500.00 from Holly Ridge Foods (Conagra Foods). Holly Ridge Foods had acquired the property in June of 1984 and completed construction of the existing plant in 1987.

After the fire damage, Holly Ridge Foods held a workshop for their employees in December to offer them opportunities in finding new employment and obtaining training for new jobs.

48 employees were left as of July 2025. All 48 employees have been released from employment at the Holly Ridge facility.

The Town of Holly Ridge announced that they were working with a local community college and agencies to help the remaining employees find new employment or to receive training in other services. It is not known how many of the remaining employees lived locally.

The food processing plant sits on approximately 6.39 acres and is located next to the current town park and community center.

The original plant, known to locals as “the pie plant” was located on Highway 17 where Dollar General is located today.

Holly Ridge was also the home of a Thorn Apple Valley manufacturing plant, which filed bankruptcy in 1999 and was taken over by Tyson Foods. The plant, known as “the bacon plant” (since it processed bacon) was shut down in 2002. The company noted that due to the condition of the building and the distance to raw materials they required, it was no longer a viable facility. 467 local jobs were lost when that plant closed. At the time it was the largest employer in Holly Ridge. That plant was located where Gulf Stream Steel is today.