Chalk up another jobs victory for Tennessee at the expense of L.A.

MasterFoods USA, a subsidiary of McLean, Va.-based food and confection maker Mars Inc., is relocating most of its Vernon offices to Nashville.

The regional office and distribution center now employs 400 people; some will remain in the region in smaller offices, while the rest of the positions will be shifted to Nashville over the next 18 months.

An adjacent factory, which employs 250 and makes pet foods, will remain open.

The relocation is part of a consolidation after Mars announced in April it planned to buy the U.S. operations of Doane Pet Care, which was based in Nashville.

“We have indicated our intent to create one centrally located pet care headquarters in Nashville,” said Alice Nathanson, spokeswoman for MasterFoods. “These are two similarly-sized businesses and it makes sense to have one central location.”

Nathanson did not specify the reasons why Nashville was chosen for the consolidation instead of Vernon. But the costs of doing business are considerably less in Nashville than in the Los Angeles area. Several high-profile companies from the L.A. area have relocated operations there, including Nissan Motor Corp.’s USA headquarters, which is just finishing its relocation.

As for the MasterFoods employees, Nathanson said the details of the consolidation have yet to be worked out. Some will be able to remain in a downsized office in an as-yet undetermined location in the Los Angeles region. That office will oversee distribution of some of MasterFood’s well-known products, including Uncle Ben’s Rice. Other employees will be given the option to transfer to Tennessee.

Whether there will be any layoffs is not yet clear. “We will handle this transition in a manner designed to minimize the impact on our associates,” she said.

Whatever the case, the loss of MasterFoods’ corporate presence in Vernon will be felt. The company has been a fixture in this highly industrial community since the late 1960s, when it purchased pet-food maker Kal-Kan.

“They have been very active supporters of the Vernon business community,” said Marisa Olguin, executive director of the Vernon Chamber of Commerce, who noted several MasterFoods officials have served on the Vernon chamber board.

Mars manufactures an assortment of popular consumer products, including M & M;’s, Snickers, and pet food under the names Pedigree, Sheba and Whiskas.