Mar 1, 2009 12:00 PM

Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream Inc. will stop production at its Houston TX manufacturing facility by the beginning of April 2009. It will shift production to four of its other plants in Bakersfield and Tulare CA, Laurel MD, and Fort Wayne IN.

The closure will impact 168 employees in manufacturing and distribution in Houston. Another 115 sales, distribution, and corporate support employees will remain in Houston after the plant closes.

Besides the Houston facility, Dreyer's has two plants — one in Fort Wayne and another in Laurel — that handle East Coast production, and three ice cream manufacturing plants in the West — Bakersfield, Tulare, and Salt Lake City UT — for a total of six ice cream plants across the nation. The Laurel and Bakersfield ice cream facilities are two of the world's largest.

Dreyer's, which is based in Oakland CA, where it was founded in 1928, has more than 7,000 employees nationwide. The company and its subsidiaries produce and distribute ice cream and frozen dessert products. Brands of frozen dessert products manufactured or distributed by Dreyer's in the United States include Grand, Slow Churned, Dibs, Haagen-Dazs, Nestle Drumstick, Nestle Crunch, Nestle Butterfinger, Nestle Toll House, Nestle Carnation, Nestle Push-Up, Frosty Paws, Eskimo Pie, Fruit Bars, and The Skinny Cow.