As many as 20 Warrens Bakery stores are to shut around southern England and the firm’s Cornish pasty factory is closing too with the loss-making company blaming Brexit uncertainty and fickle consumers.
The 160-year-old firm, which employs 500 people and has about 70 managed or franchised stores, has entered a redundancy consultation with staff, and is predicting “significant” job losses, possibly as high as 80.
It is also expected to shut about 20 stores as part of a wide-scale restructuring, including those in Bristol and Gosport, and five in Plymouth, where staff are understood to have been informed just the week before the closures.
It is understood the “loss making” stores will trade for the final time on Thursday, November 28, 2019, with staff working the next day to clear the units.
Meanwhile, the pasty factory at St Just, in Cornwall will close after more than 40 years, because it is “no longer economically viable”.
The firm made 66 redundancies at that factory, and its other plant in Belliver, Plymouth, earlier in 2019, blaming a “challenging economic climate”.
It has also cited “an ever-changing market environment, where consumers demand greater product and pricing choice” and has also pointed the finger at Brexit uncertainty.
The company made a loss of £915,000 in 2018 after turning in only a £31,000 loss the year before.
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It now intends to concentrate on its cafes and outlets inside large hospitals, and aims to roll out to airports too.
A company spokesman said the firm was in a sensitive consultation phase with staff.
But a statement said: “We have taken the extremely hard decision to propose a restructure of the business.
“With sadness and a heavy heart, we are consulting with staff and examining streamlining options, which could lead to a significant loss of jobs throughout the West Country.
“With its configuration and remote location, our St Just manufacturing site, occupied since the 1970s, is no longer economically viable based on market influences.
“We are also consulting on the closure of a number of loss-making shops to safeguard the future of the wider business.
“By streamlining our portfolio, we will target the profitable segments of our business in food2go and café.
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“Our increased focus will be in areas where we have seen continued success, including hospitals, travel hubs, strategically selected high street and destination sites.
“We remain committed to profitable manufacturing and will retain our site at Callington, while we will examine a variety of options to support our growth as a brand nationally, including in major airports.
“We will continue to respond to an ever-changing market environment, where consumers demand greater product and pricing choice.
“Our 1860 heritage product, the Cornish pasty, will remain our signature item, however we will expand our range further to drive greater consumer interest in a changing world.
“We would like to thank our loyal staff and customers wholeheartedly for their continued support. We have been part of the West Country community for 160 years and, by implementing these proposed changes, we aim to serve the local economy for many years to come.”
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Business Live's South West Business Reporter is William Telford. William has more than a decade's experience reporting on the business scene in Plymouth and the South West. He is based in Plymouth but covers the entire region.
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Warrens is Cornwall’s oldest commercial pasty maker, set up in St Just in 1860. It has grown to become the largest chain of bakeries in the South West with about 70 retail outlets across Cornwall, Devon and Somerset. The company recently opened its first bakery in Northern Ireland, in Belfast.
It has been voted Cornwall’s favourite pasty maker by the public in four independent radio and newspaper polls, won The World Pasty Championship and picked up a Highly Commended honour and a gold award at The 2016 British Pie Awards.
Alongside pasties, it also produces a range of savouries, breads, cakes, scones and sweet bakery products. In February 2017 it launched its first vegan pasties on the back of a huge surge in people giving up meat and dairy produce.