Bakkavor aiming to close its Freshcook site in Holbeach St Marks by the end of April

Major employer Bakkavor has announced it is planning to close its loss-making Freshcook site in Holbeach St Marks, saying it is no longer commercially viable.

The fresh prepared meals company is starting a 45 day consulation with its 680 employees and plans to close the factory by the end of April.

It company says it is confident it can offer the 520 weekly paid employees jobs at its other Linconshire sites, in Boston and Spalding.

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A company spokesperson said: “We can confirm that we are commencing a 45-day consultation to propose the closure of our Freshcook site at Holbeach St Marks. As part of this proposal, we will be consulting with all of the employees based at the site.

"The management team has explored a number of different options to improve the performance of the site but has concluded that Freshcook is no longer commercially viable.

"If this proposal goes ahead, we are confident that we can offer the weekly paid employees alternative operational roles across our other Lincolnshire sites and we will make every effort to relocate other employees impacted wherever possible within Bakkavor Group.

"We would like to thank all of our colleagues for their commitment and professionalism during this difficult time."

Part of the report read: "As we continue to focus on additional ways to optimise business performance, in the latter part of 2018 we reviewed the organisational structure of our UK business and will be introducing a simplified model in early 2019.

"The new structure will enable us to leverage our asset base more effectively under our four key categories and further strengthen our strategic customer partnerships under this new structure.

"In addition, our operational teams remain focused on reviewing capacity and capabilities across our sites to optimise efficiencies and maximise profitability.

"As a consequence of this ongoing process, we have started a consultation process regarding the proposed closure of one our meals sites in Lincolnshire (Holbeach St Marks). This business has experienced a number of challenges in recent years such that it was loss-making in 2018, with a further decline expected in 2019."