Lyndale Foods has started a consultation with staff over 180 proposed job losses at its Sayers bakery in Liverpool, following the loss of a Kwik Save contract.

The firm says 140 full-time and 40 part-time jobs at the bakery and in administrative functions could be affected. Half of Sayers’ output was to Kwik Save stores, which it supplied with lines including sandwiches and cakes. The news comes after Kwik Save owner Somerfield announced it was selling most of the Kwik Save stores and rebranding the others, at the end of February this year.

Lyndale Foods MD Michael Quinlan said: “We will do all we can to reduce the impact on our workforce, but we cannot pretend that the loss of the Kwik Save chain will not have a huge effect on our business.”

The Sayers bakery, in Lorenzo Drive, supplies 123 shops and national chains and wholesalers, and employs a total of 350 staff. It runs alongside Lyndale Foods’ Hampsons bakery in Bolton, which supplies its Hampsons chain of 109 stores.

A spokesman said the bakeries already work in unison, and would continue to do so. He commented: “The Kwik Save account is a massive chunk of business and we are looking at options as to how we can go forward. The Liverpool bakery will not close. We want to make it a centre for excellence for doughnuts and sandwiches for Lyndale Foods, and employ 12 extra people in these areas.”