HELSINKI — Fazer Bakery Baltics, a Finnish baking manufacturer owned by the Fazer Group, is considering a plan to consolidate all production to one baking facility in the Latvian city of Ogre. The plan would involve building an expanded warehouse for frozen and ambient products, new picking processes, and modernized production capabilities that would improve the supply chain efficiency of Fazer Bakery Baltics. The company said the investment would cost more than €18 million ($19 million), which would be a “significant investment” for the Baltic bakery market.
Fazer Bakery offers a broad range of products, including bread, pastries, cakes.
“Today we have a strong No. 2 position on the Lithuanian and Latvian markets and a No. 3 position in Estonia, and our aim is to strengthen our positions,” said Anne Mere, managing director of Fazer Bakery Baltics. “With one modernized production unit, we will have the opportunity to expand our known brands and product assortments into new categories and to meet different consumer demands even better than before.”
In terms of employment, Fazer Bakery Baltics said the transformation could lead to termination of up to 185 employees. The company would also recruit up to 60 additional employees to run the new operations in Ogre.
“If these changes would realize, we would do our utmost to support our employees in Kaunas and help them find new jobs,” Mere said. “Vacancies in other Fazer Group units would be offered with priority to those employees whose employment would possibly be terminated. We would collaborate with various partners and local Employment Service.”
Fazer said the transformation would take place during the fall-winter period of this year and would be completed by the beginning of 2025. The company currently operates baking plants in Kaunas and Lithuania in addition to Ogre.