Morrisons is to close Rathbones Bakery, with the loss of up to 115 jobs.
Workers at the Wakefield manufacturing facility were notified of the proposals on 5 January, with Morrisons beginning consultation immediately.
It’s the second time in two years Morrisons has announced it would close the struggling facility – which supplies morning goods to its own stores as well as a number of third-party customers – as CEO Rami Baitiéh and private equity owners CD&R look to cut costs.
Having initially proposed shutting the site in November 2024, Morrisons instead opted to keep the facility open in a slimmed-down capacity, switching its focus from sliced white bread to solely specialist products such as pittas, crumpets, pancakes and rolls. It led to the departure of around half of the 270 Rathbones staff on voluntary redundancy.
Rathbones was expected to remain lossmaking for two years before breaking even in 2027, a Morrisons spokesperson said at the time. Latest accounts for Rathbone Kear Ltd show the business made profits of £668,000 in the year to 27 October 2024, reversing a £2.2m loss. Morrisons highlighted that these are statutory accounts and include a number of accounting adjustments. The underlying business continued to operate at a loss.
Despite “tremendous” and genuine efforts to grow the site, struggles in the wider bakery sector had made the site unviable, Morrisons said, confirming the latest proposals to The Grocer.
Myton Foods – Morrisons’ manufacturing arm which runs the site – had also lost a significant third-party contract for the bakery last year, which had contributed to the decision to close, the supermarket said.
Morrisons is yet to decide whether it will sell or repurpose the 28,000 sq ft facility. There will be no impact to Morrisons’ in-store bakeries as a result of the closure, it said.
Challenges in bakery market
“Since the restructuring of the Rathbones business in early 2025, the team have been working hard to try and build a future for the business as a smaller, more focused supplier of specialist bakery products,” said a Morrisons spokesman.
“Since then, the trading conditions in the bakery market have become even more challenging, and despite a tremendous effort by the whole team to develop new markets, volumes and sales have declined significantly. As a result, the sales performance has fallen well below that envisaged by the recovery plan, with the business continuing to report significant losses.
“Regrettably, having thoroughly reviewed all alternatives, we can no longer see a way back to breakeven and have taken the difficult decision to close the remaining facility,” the spokesperson said.
“This proposal does unfortunately mean colleagues at the site are at risk of redundancy. We are however fully committed to doing everything we can to help all those affected, including identifying any other suitable roles available elsewhere in the Myton Group,” they added.
Morrisons rescued Rathbones from administration in 2005. Prior to the restructure in 2024, there was widespread speculation that Hovis was in talks to acquire Rathbones, however discussions did not move beyond the early stages. Hovis has since been acquired by Associated British Foods.
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