Bakery specialist Finsbury Food Group to close Grain D’Or

Finsbury Food Group has announced it is closing its London-based Grain D'Or business, which makes speciality breads and pastries for grocery retail and foodservice.

In a statement, the Group said it will enter formal consultations with the company’s 250 employees concerning the closure.

Operating loss

The AIM-listed group also noted Grain D'Or has been historically loss-making, despite a range of initiatives in recent years to improve the business, including strict cost controls and introducing new working practices.

Cardiff-based Finsbury Food reported, during the 12 months to July 1, 2017, Grain D'Or generated £28.5m ($36.9m) in revenue but produced an overall operating loss.

Grain D’Or was founded in 1980 and has two bakeries in the UK capital producing croissants, pastries, American muffins and specialty breads to customers such as Marks & Spencer and Tesco.

In a recent trading update, Finsbury Food said total group revenues had grown 0.3% to £314.3m ($407.3m) in the year to July 1. On a constant currency basis, revenues decreased 1.1% year-on-year.

The Finsbury Food Group

The Group has eight factories each producing its own range of products and employing in excess of 3,000 employees:

  • Lightbody of Hamilton, based in Hamilton: elebration cakes
  • Memory Lane Cakes, based in Cardiff: own label cakes
  • Fletchers Group of Bakers, three factories in Sheffied, Manchester and London: fresh and frozen breads, and morning goods
  • Johnston's Foodservice, based in East Kilbride: bite-style cake products, including caramel shortcake
  • Nicholas & Harris, based in Salisbury: speciality breads and morning goods
  • Campbells Cake Company, based in Twechar near Glasgow: products such as caramel shortbread and tiffin