A MAJOR food company could cease operations after more than a century trading with supermarkets and restaurants across the UK.
Over 90 employees from the company have been informed they could lose their jobs in the business.
Roberts of Port Dinorwic has been facing significant economic challenges, despite being a successful trading firm for over 100 years.
The Gywnedd-based company near Caernarfon may subsequently need to close down unless a buyer can be found.
Directors Sara Roberts and Miriam Williams have linked the company’s decline to rapid changes that have occurred in the food production industry.
In addition, it has seen soaring prices in ingredients reaching as high as 40-60 per cent, as well as consumer changes and constantly escalating operational costs.
Co-Director Sara Roberts said: “These dramatic increases, coupled with short-term pricing from suppliers and shorter contract lengths from our customers, have made it almost impossible for a business of our size to plan effectively.”
Since being founded in 1924, the company is recorded to have had a multi-million pound turnover and a long-standing industry presence in the past.
It started with Thomas Roberts making pork pies in a small butchers shop in Port Dinorwic.
The firm became known for its loyal and highly-trained workforce, which supplied a wide range of well-established UK brands to supermarkets and restaurants.
Co-Director Miriam Williams added: “We have a limited runway to make this happen, but we are committed to finding a solution.
“Our employees are deeply dedicated, and we have an established customer base that trusts us.
“This makes us an ideal candidate for acquisition by a strategic partner in the food production or retail industries.”
Closure has been considered a last resort for the directors, who are hoping a strategic buyer can be found in coming weeks to secure the future of the business.
Why are retailers closing stores?
RETAILERS have been feeling the squeeze since the pandemic, while shoppers are cutting back on spending due to the soaring cost of living crisis.
High energy costs and a move to shopping online after the pandemic are also taking a toll, and many high street shops have struggled to keep going.
However, additional costs have added further pain to an already struggling sector.
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury’s hike to employer NICs from April will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
At the same time, the minimum wage will rise to £12.21 an hour from April, and the minimum wage for people aged 18-20 will rise to £10 an hour, an increase of £1.40.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: “The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025.”
It comes after almost 170,000 retail workers lost their jobs in 2024.
End-of-year figures compiled by the Centre for Retail Research showed the number of job losses spiked amid the collapse of major chains such as Homebase and Ted Baker.
It said its latest analysis showed that a total of 169,395 retail jobs were lost in the 2024 calendar year to date.
This was up 49,990 – an increase of 41.9% – compared with 2023.
It is the highest annual reading since more than 200,000 jobs were lost in 2020 in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced retailers to shut their stores during lockdowns.
The centre said 38 major retailers went into administration in 2024, including household names such as Lloyds Pharmacy, Homebase, The Body Shop, Carpetright and Ted Baker.
Around a third of all retail job losses in 2024, 33% or 55,914 in total, resulted from administrations.
Experts have said small high street shops could face a particularly challenging 2025 because of Budget tax and wage changes.
Professor Bamfield has warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector.
“By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer’s household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020.”