Niagara Bottling, LLC has terminated dozens of employees from an Ocala-area water bottling facility that it purchased for over $25 million last September.
Niagara Bottling, LLC has terminated dozens of employees from an Ocala-area water bottling facility that it purchased for over $25 million last September.

The first round of layoffs at the Silver Springs Bottled Water Co., which was scheduled for New Year’s Eve, saw the release of 73 employees of the company, while the remaining dozen employees are scheduled for termination by the end of March.

According to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) filed by Niagara Bottling, LLC with the Florida Department of Commerce, 73 employees comprised of fork lift operators (22), production operators (22), and nearly two dozen other positions were released from the Ocala facility during its initial terminations on December 31.

Established in 1986, Silver Springs Bottled Water Company was purchased by the Richmond family in 1991. The former company’s website shows the officers at the time of sale were Kane, Kirk, and Keith Richmond.

The firings follow the multimillion-dollar acquisition of the former Silver Springs Bottled Water Company by Niagra Bottling in September.

For just under 40 years, the Silver Springs Bottled Water Company produced and distributed steam-distilled water, drinking water, purified water, and spring water from its facility in northwest Ocala.

In total, 85 employees will be terminated from the former distribution facility by March 1.

Silver Springs Bottled Water Company has been sold to Niagara Bottling.
The former Silver Springs Bottled Water Company (2445 NW 42nd Street) was purchased for $25,785,000 on September 3, 2025. Credit: Google

In its WARN notice to the state, Niagara stated that the company made the terminations after deciding to “reduce production and volume” at the facility, which is located at 2445 NW 42nd Street in Ocala.

Niagara Bottling, which was founded by Andrew Peykoff, Sr., in 1963, is the largest family-owned bottled water company in the world, operating more than three dozen plants around the continent.

The company’s decision to close the Silver Springs facility comes amidst two decades of growth by Niagara into the area.

Over the past 18 years, the water-bottling giant has built facilities in Groveland (2007) and near Jacksonville (2002). Together, those facilities employ over 280 individuals.

Do you have memories of the old Silver and its products? Share them in a comment or, if you have more to say on the topic, write a letter to the editor.

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