Bakkavor announce closure of one of its Spalding factories

Around 500 jobs are affected after Bakkavor announced the closure of one of its Spalding factories.

The company has confirmed that Factory One at its West Marsh Road site, which specialises in salads, is to be closed from October.

A night shift working in the Deli section will also end.

A Bakkavor spokesman, said: “We announced in June that we were entering into several consultations with employees at our Spalding site where we have two salads factories, two meals factories and a distribution centre.  

“Our proposals involved making changes to our salads factories which included the closure of Spalding Factory 1 (F1) and the simplification of the night shift pattern in the Deli.

“Over the past 12 months both factories have come under increasing pressure due to the impact of a business loss at the beginning of 2020 and more recently the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. 

“We’ve been working closely with our colleagues, the SEF representatives and Unite throughout the consultation process and can confirm that no viable solutions were put forward to our ongoing challenges.

“Therefore, the decisions to close F1 during Q4 (Oct-Dec) 2020 and the removal of one night shift pattern in the Deli will go ahead.

“We have already been successful in finding roles for a number of colleagues both at the Spalding site and at our other sites in Lincolnshire and are fully committed to finding alternative roles for all who want to remain with us, as we have a sufficient number of roles available across our sites in Bourne, Holbeach St Marks, Sutton Bridge and Boston.

“We would like to thank all of our colleagues for their commitment and professionalism during this difficult time.”

When announcing the consultation in June, the company said: “Over the past 12 months the salads businesses at Spalding (Factory 1 and the Deli) have come under increasing pressure due to the impact of a business loss at the beginning of 2020 and more recently the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

“There are over 500 employees impacted by these proposals.

“We believe these changes are fundamental to the future success of the site.

“As a result, we have had to make some difficult decisions to ensure we can continue to remain sustainable in what remains a particularly difficult trading environment.”