500 jobs at risk at 2 Sisters bakery

A BAKERY business is facing difficult times following the loss of a major contract, with 500 jobs on the line.

Gunstones Bakery in Dronfield is owned by the 2 Sisters Food Group specialising in chilled food and bakery goods, making sandwiches and sushi, as well as bread rolls, hot cross buns and garlic bread.

It lost a major chilled sushi contract for in June and the effects are now being felt, with 524 staff facing redundancies, 45% of the workforce.

The Gunstones family started the business in 1862 opening their first bakery in Sheffield in 1925.

In 1950, they built a factory at the current site in Dronfield.

Organising officer for the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Trade Union (BFAWTU), Jit Singh, said: “We have already held talks with the company and these have been very constructive.
“While it is too early to know what the full impact will be, there are opportunities at other sites, some of them quite local.”

A spokesman for 2 Sisters Food Group, which owns the bakery, said: “We announced to colleagues in June the loss of a filled rolls and sushi contract to another supplier.

“As this contract doesn’t end for another six months, this gives us time to put plans in place to mitigate this loss, and this continues. In addition, we have won a new five-year bakery contract since we announced the contract termination.”

 

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