Remote Surveillance Trailer in Fairfield, CA

Anheuser-Busch will shut down its Fairfield brewery in early 2026, city officials confirmed Thursday, marking the loss of one of the community’s largest employers and dealing what leaders say will be a major economic blow.

Mayor Catherine Moy announced the closure in a social media post, calling the news “horrible” and “devastating.” She said City Manager David Gassaway notified her Thursday morning after receiving confirmation from the company.

In a message to the City Council, Gassaway wrote that Anheuser-Busch plans to close three facilities nationwide, including Fairfield’s, and that all employees will be offered jobs at other company locations across the country. A specific closure date has not yet been set, beyond “early 2026,” he said.

The Fairfield brewery first opened its doors in 1976.

Gassaway warned of significant local impacts, including the loss of jobs and reduced revenue for the city’s water utility. He added that the specialized nature of the brewery will make it challenging to find a new user for the site, though the city is already seeking to connect with the company’s real estate team to explore reuse options.

Moy said the city is mobilizing immediately to support affected workers and search for potential buyers for the plant.

“It’s shocking,” she said of the announcement. “I remember when that plant first opened. It was a big deal and it has been a big part of Fairfield.”

The plant employs hundreds of people and Moy said the news coming just before Christmas shows a “heartlessness” she cannot stand.

She said she spoke with company officials early Thursday and they indicated it would close in the first part of February but had no real explanation of why the plant has been targeted for closure.

“There has been no reason for why and we didn’t know anything about this. It hit us from out of nowhere this morning,” she said.

A spokesperson did not give specifics for why the Fairfield site was closed but issued a formal statement saying, “Over the last five years we have taken steps to update and modernize our U.S. manufacturing operations, investing nearly $2 billion in our 100 facilities across the country; after conducting a thorough review, we have decided to sell our Newark, NJ facility to the Goodman Group and to close our facilities in Fairfield, CA and Merrimack, NH in early 2026; we will be shifting production from these three facilities to our other U.S. facilities and these changes will enable us to invest even more in our remaining operations and in our portfolio of growing, industry-leading brands.”

The statement said the company “will support the approximately 475 full-time employees currently working at these three facilities by offering all of them a full-time role elsewhere in our U.S. operations.”

The Fairfield brewery has long been a major industrial presence in Solano County, and its closure is expected to ripple through the local economy.

“Now we must help our people and look closer at impacts to Fairfield,” Moy wrote in her post. She said on the phone that the city will work with local employment advisors to help impacted employees.

Continue to watch TheReporter.com for updates.

The Anheuser-Busch plant closure in Fairfield will displace 238 workers, according to the city's mayor.

FAIRFIELD, Calif. — The Anheuser-Busch Fairfield plant will be closing on Feb. 22, 2026, according to a WARN letter sent to the city’s mayor.

State law mandates that companies send warning letters to the city's mayor and other elected officials, providing at least 60 days' notice of a mass layoff, including information on the affected employees and the reason for the closure.

According to Mayor Catherine Moy, neither she nor the Fairfield city manager knew about the pending Anheuser-Busch plant closure until Thursday morning.

“The closure has shaken our community as (Anheuser-Busch) was for a long time a good friend to our citizens and generous employer,” Moy said in a statement.

In a Facebook post, she said the layoffs will affect 238 employees in Fairfield as the company reorganizes its plants nationwide. The company also plans to close its facility in Merrimack, NH, and sell its Newark, NJ, facility to the Goodman Group.

“... These changes will enable us to invest even more in our remaining operations and in our portfolio of growing, industry-leading brands; we will support the approximately 475 full-time employees currently working at these three facilities by offering all of them a full-time role elsewhere in our U.S. operations,” a company spokesperson said in a statement.

Employees who don’t accept roles elsewhere within the company will be offered a severance package and other benefits, the company said.

Moy, citing numbers sent to her by the Solano County Workforce Development Board president, David Hubble, said the city of Fairfield and its local government will lose approximately $10.7 million in taxes due to the closure.

The mayor said she and city staff are working to assess how the closure will affect the city and find ways to help employees who will lose their jobs.

“On a personal note, I am praying for all impacted. I have beloved friends facing tremendous loss. If it hurts Fairfield, I hurt. I won’t stop fighting for you,” Moy said in a statement.

There will be no more Clydesdales a’clopping in Fairfield, as the Budweiser plant that opened there in 1976 will fully close down in January, because parent company Anheuser-Busch is pulling a national downsizing on production.

The economic meltdown in the craft beer sector seems to apply to more than just craft beer. Even those good old union-made traditional American beers are seeing slumping sales too. And that point hit close to home in the Bay Area this week, as KRON4 reported on Thursday that US beer manufacturer Anheuser-Busch announced it is permanently closing its Fairfield Budweiser plant, among a handful of US brewing facilities that they will also be shuttering.

That Fairfield Budweiser brewery opened way back in 1976, and will close permanently in January 2026. And there will be a permanent reminder of the loss for Fairfield, as the street on which the facility sits is named Busch Drive.

“After conducting a thorough review, we have decided to sell our Newark, NJ facility to the Goodman Group and to close our facilities in Fairfield, CA and Merrimack, NH in early 2026,” Anheuser-Busch said in a statement, according to KRON4. “We will be shifting production from these three facilities to our other U.S. facilities and these changes will enable us to invest even more in our remaining operations and in our portfolio of growing, industry-leading brands.”

Affected employees will be offered full-time employment elsewhere at other facilities, along with a relocation package. Those who decline that deal will be offered severance, according to the company.

But it’s still a huge blow to the Solano County City of Fairfield, whose leaders say they were blindsided by Thursday’s news.

“The impacts for us will be loss of local employment and impact to our water utility operations and revenue,” Fairfield City Manager David Gassaway said in his own statement. “I requested that they put me in touch with their real estate team so that we can promptly get to work on trying to find a potential reuse for the site. To be clear, I don’t think that will be an easy task given the large and highly specialized nature of the facility. I hope I’m wrong though.”

Fairfield’s mayor Catherine Moy was more blunt.

“Fairfield and other Solano cities have lost major businesses because California is a hostile business environment,” she said, according to KRON4. “A one-party super majority is like a dictator. Benicia is losing a refinery, we lost Copart, a huge company, and now Budweiser. If we don’t change course, our beautiful state will sink further.”

But Anheuser-Busch is closing a total of three plants nationwide, so this does not sound like a Califrnia-specific issue. The company's sales have been declining for multiple years in a row.

Anheuser-Busch estimates that 475 jobs nationwide will be affected by the three closures, though it’s unclear how many of those are specifically Fairfield Budweiser plant jobs.

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Fairfield's longtime Budweiser plant will be closing early next year. City officials say they were informed by Anheuser-Busch about the impending closure on Thursday.

In a statement from Anheuser-Busch, the Fairfield facility is one of two that will be closed in 2026, along with a third being sold.

Full-time employees at the impacted facilities will be offered roles elsewhere, Anheuser-Busch stated.

"Over the last five years we have taken steps to update and modernize our U.S. manufacturing operations, investing nearly $2 billion in our 100 facilities across the country; after conducting a thorough review, we have decided to sell our Newark, NJ facility to the Goodman Group and to close our facilities in Fairfield, CA and Merrimack, NH in early 2026," the company stated.

According to the WARN report, the last day of operation for the Fairfield plant will be Feb. 22, 2026. A total of 238 employees will be impacted.

Fairfield Mayor Catherine Moy stated that the city manager informed her Thursday morning of the plant's impending closure.

"The impacts for us will be loss of local employment and impact to our water utility operations and revenue. I requested that they put me in touch with their real estate team so that we can promptly get to work on trying to find a potential reuse for the site," Moy wrote in a post to her Facebook page regarding the closure.

"To be clear, I don't think that will be an easy task given the large and highly specialized nature of the facility. I hope I'm wrong though," Moy added.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom's office pushed back against claims that the state's business environment contributed to the closure.

"The company and the industry as a whole are experiencing profit declines, made worse by economic uncertainty and higher costs tied to President Trump's tariff policies," a representative from Newsom's office stated.

The Fairfield Anheuser-Busch was opened in 1976 and sits on a prominent 170-acre site right off Interstate 80.

In:

Mayor says the Anheuser-Busch closure could lead to higher water rates and impact about 200 local jobs.

FAIRFIELD, Calif — The planned closure of Anheuser-Busch’s Fairfield facility in early 2026 is expected to affect workers, families and city finances, with residents likely to see higher water and sewer rates, Mayor Catherine Moy said Thursday.

Moy said she learned of the closure early Thursday morning after receiving a call from City Manager David Gassaway, who had just spoken with company representatives. She said the city had no advance notice of the decision.

“This is a massive layoff. So we’re shocked, and I’m upset,” Moy said. “We did not know a month ago, three months ago, nothing until this morning."

Anheuser-Busch confirmed it will close facilities in Fairfield, California and Merrimack, New Hampshire, as well as sell its Newark, New Jersey, site in early 2026. In a statement, the company said it is shifting production from the three locations to other U.S. facilities and will support the approximately 475 full-time employees working at those sites by offering them full-time roles elsewhere in its U.S. operations.

“Over the last five years we have taken steps to update and modernize our U.S. manufacturing operations, investing nearly $2 billion in our 100 facilities across the country; after conducting a thorough review, we have decided to sell our Newark, NJ facility to the Goodman Group and to close our facilities in Fairfield, CA and Merrimack, NH in early 2026,” an Anheuser-Busch spokesperson said. “We will be shifting production from these three facilities to our other U.S. facilities and these changes will enable us to invest even more in our remaining operations and in our portfolio of growing, industry-leading brands.”

The company said all full-time employees at the three facilities will be offered full-time roles at other locations with relocation stipends and skills training. Employees who choose not to transfer will be offered severance packages and other resources.

Moy said about 200 employees in Fairfield are affected, calling it the largest layoff during her time as mayor. She criticized the timing of the announcement, which comes weeks before Christmas and Hanukkah.

“It is the worst kind of Grinch-mas that you could come up with. How they would do this before Christmas and Hanukkah? It’s disgusting,” she said.

Residents said the loss of jobs will be difficult for families.

“I do feel for the people who are losing their jobs,” said Luis Velazquez, a California resident. “It’s difficult enough to decide it’s time to move, and it’s even more difficult to move from a state like California.”

Linda Budil, a Solano County resident, said the brewery has long been part of the community.

“Budweiser has just like always been there. Solano County has a lot of family communities with tons of kids, tons of schools. What are these families going to do?” Budil said.

City officials said the closure will also affect Fairfield’s finances. The facility is the city’s largest water user and carries a significant share of water and sewer system costs. In a statement to ABC10, the city said the impacts will include the loss of local employment and reduced water utility operations and revenue, and that officials are still working to determine the exact amounts.

Moy said the city has not raised water rates in five years, but the loss of Anheuser-Busch’s usage means residents will likely see higher bills.

“With Anheuser-Busch gone, we’re probably going to have to raise rates,” she said, adding that the city’s budget cannot absorb the loss.

Moy said the city is going to try and identify potential future uses for the highly-specialized brewery site. In the meantime, she said she will be working to support displaced workers by connecting them with resources.

“They can call me if they need food, if they need housing, whatever it is,” she said. “Our whole community is going to hold them up.”

Moy also said she personally believes California’s business climate has contributed to the loss of major employers in Fairfield and other Solano County cities, though Anheuser-Busch has not cited that as a reason for the closure. She emphasized that her immediate focus remains on helping affected workers and addressing the financial impact on the city.

City leaders said they expect to learn more in the coming weeks as they continue to assess the full impact of the closure.