Redundancies at Bakkavör's English Village Salads
The 24 redundancies will affect salaried employees at the two EVS sites in Yorkshire.
Bakkavör said it was also making 50 redundancies among its weekly paid employees, with others being relocated to different sites.
The news follows a 90-day consultation which started in June. More than 100 redundancies were originally anticipated.
EVS employs a total of 270 salaried and weekly paid staff across its Selby and Newport sites.
Asda loss
A Bakkavör spokesman explained that the redundancies follow the loss of an Asda contract.
He said: “We have had to adjust the scale of our operation to ensure the long term viability and sustainability of EVS following Asda’s decision to take a substantial part of salads procurement to its in-house operation.”
Asda is transferring much of its salads procurement to its own business, International Produce Limited, in Normanton, Wakefield.
Asda’s IPL division was formed six years ago, with Bakkavör as a shareholder. In October 2009 IPL was bought out by Asda and already manages all fruit categories exclusively for the supermarket.
Speciality salads
Meanwhile, the firm unveiled plans last month to reorganise the workforce at its site in Spalding, Lincolnshire, after losing a tender for the supply of speciality salads.
But the fresh prepared foods giant will continue to supply its core salads to the client, which it has not named.
A Bakkavör spokesman told FoodManufacture.co.uk: “As part of the standard tender processes we participate in on a periodic basis, the arrangement to supply a variety salads range currently being produced in one of our factories at Bakkavör Spalding has been awarded to another supplier.”
He added that, while his firm had lost the tender to supply ‘variety salads’, it had retained the business relating to its core salads range.
