Kraft Foods plans to shed about 1,600 positions this year as it reorganizes and prepares to split itself into two independent public companies by year end, the maker of iconic snacks such as Oreos and Ritz crackers said yesterday.

The move will reshuffle Krafts operations in East Hanover, where the food giant currently employs about 1,050 people, according to company spokesman Michael Mitchell. The company is relocating the business management functions of its Planters nut brand, about 38 positions, to the Chicago area, and will remake the East Hanover campus into the North American hub of its soon-to-be-launched global snack foods company.

The split of Kraft into two distinct companies, announced in August, is intended to create leaner, more competitive organizations, the companys Chairman and CEO Irene Rosenfeld said in a statement. The global snack foods company will make products such as Oreos, Trident gum and Wheat Thins crackers, while a separate grocery company will manufacture items such as Philadelphia Cream Cheese, Maxwell House coffee and Oscar Mayer hot dogs. Both will be headquartered in Chicago, the company said.

John Baumgartner, an analyst with Telsey Advisory Group, said even though New Jersey is losing the Planters brand, the food giant is far from pulling out of the state.

“Theyre not totally up and leaving town,” he said.

Krafts other operations in New Jersey, such as its research and development facilities in Whippany and bakery in Fair Lawn, are not impacted by yesterdays announcement, Mitchell said.

In addition to relocating Planters, the company is shifting its Tarrytown, N.Y., beverage maker to the Chicago area by years end. Workers at both units are being given the chance to relocate. The company also is shuttering its Glenview, Ill., management center by the end of 2013.

About 40 percent of the job reductions will be in Krafts sales force, as the company will outsource local retail sales functions to Acosta Sales & Marketing and CROSSMARK, which will operate under Krafts oversight. Baumgartner said that the contractors may look to hire salespeople from Kraft.

Another 20 percent of the positions being eliminated are currently vacant and will not be filled, the company said. The remaining layoffs will be spread Krafts corporate and business units.

Mitchell said it was too early to tell how the announced layoffs and job reductions will impact New Jersey. While some of the affected sales force likely is based in the state, the company will not determine which corporate and business units will see cuts until later this year, he said.

Although the East Hanover campus will have broader responsibilities under the new corporate structurein that it will oversee Canada snack and confectionary operationsit will not necessarily employ more people as the company is in the process of making itself leaner overall, Mitchell said.

The company plans to keep all of its East Coast research and development sites in the New York and New Jersey region, he said, although it has not been finalized where all the facilities will be.

Kraft stock jumped 1 percent to $38.13.

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Tags: Kraft, Kraft Cut