Welsh manufacturer Brace’s Bakery is closing its site on Pen-Y-Fan Industrial Estate in Caerphilly as part of a ‘reset’ of the business in response to ‘dramatic’ changes in the bread market.
The main bakery in Croespenmaen, just up the road from the Pen-Y-Fan site, will remain operational with the majority of staff moving over. The business anticipates there to be fewer than 20 redundancies in total.
Croespenmaen has two sliced bread plants which the business said will be able to fulfil its market demand for those products. It can also make Welsh cakes, rolls, and artisanal products which sets the business “on the right path for the future”, according to director Jonathan Brace. The Pen-Y-Fan bakery, meanwhile, only had one production line.
Brace’s has recently invested more than £1m in the remaining site to support the introduction of its sourdough range, which was rolled out over the summer. This included the creation of a temperature-controlled area to hold long-fermentation tubs and the conversion of an existing line.
The business insisted that customers will see no change in the availability of its products.
Jonathan Brace, fourth generation of the Brace’s family at the helm along with his brother Mark, told British Baker that he sees this as a “reset of the business” which gives it “the opportunity to meet the new market demands head on”.
“The market has been struggling with over capacity, and we are no different,” he added. “The bread market has changed dramatically in the last 18 months with people moving away from standard sliced breads, the whole of the industry is feeling the consequences of a declining market.”
Brace highlighted some of the events over the past year as examples of this, including Morrisons’ decision to downsize the Rathbones bakery to focus on specialist products such as crumpets, pancakes, naans, and pittas rather than sliced bread.
Further evidence comes from the proposed merger of Allied Bakeries and Hovis with the hopes of creating a ‘profitable bread business’, and the buyout of Roberts Bakery by Boparan Private Office after the family-owned business fell into administration just this week. Notably, the bakery’s Ilkeston site in Derbyshire which produced speciality bread, was purchased by Warburtons which is looking to “meet demand in a growing segment of the bakery market”.
Brace also cited rising costs such as wages, gas, and electric, as well as the increase in National Insurance which have further added to market pressures.
Like other businesses in the market, Brace’s has plans for new products to help it tap into changing consumer demand for baked goods.
“It will be very sad to see long term loyal staff leave the business, but out of this we will be securing over 200 jobs. Brace’s family has been baking in the Welsh Valleys for 123 years and we have big plans with new product launches and new customers, but in different areas of the bread market, which will secure the long-term future of the business,” Jonathan Brace added.
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