Around 100 jobs could be lost at the North East Warburtons site amid proposals to shut its core bakery.
The bakery giant employs around 118 people at its site in Newburn, Newcastle, which has been home to a traditional bakery and depot since 1989 and its dedicated ‘free-from’ factory for the last eight years.
Now it has emerged that the firm has started consultations with around 100 members of staff at the core bakery, following a decision to close it.
The bakery giant says the closure proposals have been triggered by changing consumer habits, which has seen some people switch from buying traditional, large loaves of bread to different bread products including thins, wraps and gluten free options.
The depot and free-from bakery – which produces the firm’s gluten-free, wheat-free and milk-free products – are both unaffected by the proposals, and the family firm said all efforts would be made to redeploy people within the business.
It added that it remains committed to the region, and will be investing a multimillion-pound sum into its free-from bakery and depot as it seeks to adapt and meet demands of changing consumer habits.
The 45-day consultation with staff has begun and the business said it is “focused on supporting everyone affected during this difficult time”.
A Warbutons spokesman said “The bakery market continues to be challenging, and as consumers continue to switch from bread to other wrapped bakery such as bagels, flatbread and crumpets, we need to ensure our business is set up to meet demand for the long term.
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“Unfortunately, this means making the very difficult decision to enter into consultation on the proposed closure of our core Newburn bakery. No decision will be made until the thorough consultation is completed and we are supporting everyone affected at this very difficult time.
“We continue to invest in our business and in the last 18 months we have invested over £35m in our infrastructure alone to enable us to innovate and meet changing consumer demand.
“We also remain committed to our North East operations, and over the next 12 months will be making improvements to our free-from bakery and distribution facility at an investment of £3m.”
The firm was originally established by husband and wife team Thomas and Ellen Warburton in Bolton in 1870 and now produces more than two million products a day at locations across the 海角视频.
Accounts published a fortnight ago for the bakery group, covering the year ended September 30 2018, detail how sales fell 3.5% fall to £506.4m, with a report showing that growth in new product ranges had not offset the decline in established core ranges.
The accounts report added that the company’s investment is focused on enhancing its capability to meet changing consumer trends.