Adelie Foods to close sites putting ‘180’ jobs at risk

Adelie Foods – owner of the Urban Eat and Daily Bread brands – planned to move production from Middlesbrough to other factories in Kilmarnock, Wembley and Southall.

Its Leicester distribution site would move to Tamworth, the manufacturer also confirmed.

The factory closures would ensure Adelie Foods delivered the right service and quality to its customers across the UK, it said.

‘Making our factories significantly more efficient’

Adelie Foods ceo Martin Johnson said: “Over the past 12 months we have grown with existing and new customers and we have invested heavily in our infrastructure, expanding our capability to new products and formats, as well as making our factories and distribution network significantly more efficient. This investment has freed up capacity at our major Kilmarnock, Wembley and Southall sites.

“Having completed this work, we are commencing a process to cease all production at our Middlesbrough plant and transfer this to other sites within the group. We will work closely with our people at both Middlesbrough and Leicester to help to reduce the impact of today’s announcement where possible.”

Both planned closures were part of Adelie Foods’s operational strategy, it said. The manufacturer will enter into talks with staff and their representatives over the coming weeks.

Part of its operational strategy

Adelie Foods currently operates from five factories across the UK. It also has six warehouses and over 250 vehicles. It distributes over 2M products a week, and manufactures 1,400 product varieties.

The manufacturer is currently recruiting for five roles at its UK sites. Roles include: technical assistant and administrator, manufacturing manager, planning manager, site technical manager, and lead engineer.

Meanwhile, the Co-op has this week revealed plans to close three distribution centres across the UK, putting 285 jobs at risk.