A shuttered sausage plant that once employed hundreds in Momence is getting new life as a round-the-clock croissant factory. Mighty Cake Co. has purchased the nearly 12-acre former Johnsonville Foods site at 334 North St. for $2.5 million and plans to begin production there by late January or early February 2027, with an eventual workforce of 300 people.
The family-owned wholesale bakery, in business more than 40 years, will take over the 104,000-square-foot facility and run it 24 hours a day, seven days a week, according to Shaw Local. Owner Tom Bastounes, a Park Ridge resident, said the company is moving because its current Chicago location was too small and hampered by traffic-flow obstacles. Mighty Cake specializes in premium handmade croissants for retail, food service and private-label partners, and its products are certified kosher by the Orthodox Union.
The company began exploring the Momence site in January 2026, ultimately expanding its ambitions from a 40,000-square-foot footprint to the full 104,000-square-foot building, per the same Shaw Local report. Site renovations are set to begin in October, and Bastounes said the building, while old, is in great shape and could offer an easier operation with a ready local labor pool.
A Building With a Rough Recent History
The plant was originally built in 1962 as Momence Packing Co., and Wisconsin-based Johnsonville operated it from 1995 until it abruptly shut down in June 2025, laying off 274 workers, according to Food Processing. After the closure, Johnsonville had planned to demolish the plant buildings, per Shaw Local, before Mighty Cake's purchase changed course. Johnsonville consolidated its fresh sausage production in Wisconsin instead, expanding facilities in Sheboygan Falls and Watertown and creating 100 jobs there, Food Processing reported.
The loss wasn't Momence's only industrial blow last year. A February 2025 fire destroyed the 40,000-square-foot Gilster-Mary Lee cocoa facility, causing an estimated $20 million in damages, according to Shaw Local's earlier coverage. The private-label manufacturer chose not to rebuild and permanently exited Kankakee County. Momence also saw AAF Flanders close in April 2023, a loss of nearly 115 jobs.
Hiring Underway Ahead of the Opening
Mighty Cake has already held two job fairs and offered hourly wages of nearly $16 to $20 based on experience, with plans to have 190 people hired by opening. In August and September, regional workforce agency Kankakee Workforce Services hosted hiring events at the KCC North Extension Center in Bradley, recruiting an initial wave of 30 to 50 production workers across three shifts.
To bridge the roughly 50-mile gap between Momence and its Chicago operation before the local plant opens, Mighty Cake is busing 20 Momence-area employees to Chicago for hands-on training, according to Kankakee Workforce Services, with travel time counted and paid as regular working hours.
What the Deal Means for a Small Manufacturing Town
Momence has about 3,000 residents, and manufacturing is already the city's largest employment sector, with 364 jobs recorded in 2024 U.S. Census Bureau estimates. The town is also home to the corporate headquarters of Van Drunen Farms, and together with FutureCeuticals Inc., the two companies provide more than 900 jobs in the region, according to Angela Morrey, president and CEO of the Economic Alliance of Kankakee County.
Morrey announced Mighty Cake's relocation at a Thursday Alliance board meeting, calling it a new opportunity for the area. Kankakee County's unemployment rate stood at 4.1% in July, down from 5.2% a year earlier, according to the Illinois Department of Employment Security, a sign of a tightening labor pool as the bakery ramps up recruitment.
Bastounes said Mighty Cake is excited to be in the area, and that the Momence site should be easier to operate than the company's cramped western Chicago location. Whether the county's workforce can ultimately fill all 300 planned positions, and how smoothly a former meat-packing plant converts into a bakery running around the clock, remain open questions as renovations get underway next month.
