A total of 150 employees have been made redundant at a Liverpool bakery plant supplying Sayers & Hampsons, following a management buy-out (MBO) of the business in an effort to save more jobs.
The newly created firm, Sayers The Bakers, headed by chairman Sandy Birnie, said that the company had been struggling for some time and rising raw material, energy and fuel costs had proved the final straw.
The MBO resulted in the closure of the Liverpool site, as well as 40 of Sayers’ 198 bakery shops across the north west. The remaining 158 shops employing 1,250 people will keep trading, supported by the Hampsons bakery in Bolton, which employs more than 250 people. The total redundancies for manufacturing and retail number 450.
“Unfortunately we have had to take some extremely difficult decisions in recent weeks but the situation was simply unsustainable and we have had to act now in order to protect the long-term future and job security of the remaining 1,500 employees around the north west," said Birnie.
“Sayers is an extremely strong brand across the region,” Birnie added, “and while this has been a painful exercise I am confident that we now have a robust business plan going forward that will mean job security for our remaining staff.” He said the move would enable Sayers to continue to provide: “the same great products and the same great value to customers throughout the north west for many years to come”