Tom Flierl

In 2005, Oneida shut the flatware factory in Sherrill, New York. A town that had made silverware for MORE THAN 100 YEARS was supposed to be finished. Two men refused to let that happen. Their names are Matt Roberts and Greg Owens. Roberts had managed that factory. Owens was another former Oneida manufacturing manager. When the company ended U.S. production, they bought the plant and the equipment and reopened it the NEXT DAY as Sherrill Manufacturing. They did not have a giant rescue fund. They did not have a Hollywood ending waiting. They had a building, some machines, and a workforce that knew how to make forks, knives, and spoons. At first they kept making product for Oneida. Then Oneida pulled the remaining American work and sent it overseas. That should have been the end. It wasn’t. They took government flatware contracts to keep the lights on. In 2010 they filed Chapter 11. They sold unused equipment. They sold space they could no longer fill. They leased back only the part of the factory they could still run. They came out of bankruptcy in 2013. Then they did the thing that saved the company. They built their own brand: Liberty Tabletop. They sold 18/10 stainless flatware straight to customers who wanted tableware MADE IN THE UNITED STATES. Not through a department store that could drop them overnight. Direct. Today Liberty Tabletop is the only company still manufacturing stainless steel flatware in America. Same town. Same trade. U.S. steel. About 70 jobs. They did not bring back 2,000 workers. Nobody did. What they saved was the last line. If you want American-made forks and spoons, this is the factory that still makes them. Support Liberty Tabletop. THIS is what keeping manufacturing in America actually looks like. 🇺🇸