The US subsidiary of Mexico-based Grupo Bimbo plans to shutter yet another local bakery facility.
Bimbo Bakeries USA will close its San Antonio, Texas, plant on 5 October, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) posted with the Texas Workforce Commission.
The notice, cited by local media, indicated the demise of the bakery and distribution unit in San Antonio will put 138 staff out of work.
A spokesperson for Grupo Bimbo confirmed the plans to close the San Antonio site on the back of the planned shutdown of two other bakery plants in Auburn and Olean, both in New York.
“We continuously review and adjust bakery assets and utilization to ensure optimal production. We will transition production to bakeries in our network that are better equipped to support our future growth,” the spokesperson said.
“We remain grateful for our hardworking associates at these bakeries and are committed to providing them with resources and support to ease their transitions.”
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That announcement, again through a WARN district notice, comes with the loss of 131 jobs when the sites close their doors in September and October.
Another US plant closure was revealed by Bimbo Bakeries USA in May, with the Little Bites and Entenmann’s brand owner shuttering its Bellevue, Nebraska, bread and buns facility. The site employed 172 people.
After announcing in January the planned closure of a bread and buns manufacturing plant in Albuquerque, New Mexico, then CEO Daniel Servitje suggested there could be more in 2024 as part of “optimising” operations in the US.
Discussing the 2023 annual results in February and trading for the new year, Servitje said: “A key focus will be on restructuring investments in countries such as the US, in line with our proactive approach to identifying opportunities that resonate with our philosophy and strategy to be a sustainable, highly productive” company.
He added: “We are always actively evaluating and terminating the best-in-world practices and we have a footprint in the US that is a lot of local bakeries and a lot of acquisitions. So we’ll continue to look at specific opportunities that we have to optimise our footprint.”
Servitje was recently appointed executive chairman of Grupo Bimbo, with chief operating officer Rafael Pamias promoted to CEO from 1 May.
