Bimbo Bakeries USA, part of Mexico’s Grupo Bimbo, which bills itself as the world’s largest bakery with operations in 35 countries, will shutter its San Antonio bakery and distribution center this fall, laying off 138 workers.
Bimbo owns more than 100 bakery brands, many well known, including Sara Lee, Tia Rosa, Entenmann’s, Mrs. Baird’s, Thomas’ and Boboli. It plans to also close two facilities in New York, affecting another 131 employees.
The company notified the Texas Workforce Commission of the coming layoffs in San Antonio on Friday, listing Oct. 5 as the day layoffs would go into effect.
“After careful analysis and consideration, we have made the difficult decision to close the San Antonio, TX bakery this fall,” said Bimbo Bakeries USA in a statement. “We will transition production to bakeries in our network that are better equipped to support our future growth.”
The company expressed gratitude for its employees and said it was committed to providing them with “resources and support to ease their transitions.”
The latest closures follow three others earlier this year in Nebraska, New Mexico and Quebec, part of the company’s North American restructuring.
“The food industry has been facing consumption headwinds from consumer pressure,” said Daniel Servitje, then the company’s chairman and chief executive officer in an earnings call in February (Bimbo is traded on the Mexican Stock Exchange).
Servitje stepped down in April, after growing Grupo Bimbo to eight times its size when he took the helm in 1997. The company was founded in 1945 by his father. Servitje now serves as executive chairman. The company has been named “one of the world’s most ethical companies several times, and last year was named a “world’s best company” by Time magazine.
Earlier this summer, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration told Bimbo to stop using labels that say its products contain potentially dangerous allergens when they don’t, according to the Associated Press. The warnings followed inspections in 2023 at Bimbo plants in Arizona and Kansas that make Sara Lee and Brownberry breads.
In 2022, Bimbo-employed bakery distributor drivers sued the company alleging they were misclassified as independent contractors, rather than employees, and were owed back pay. Last year, the U.S. Labor Department said the federal labor standards act would not allow Bimbo to file a countersuit against the drivers.