A NORTH-East bakery that exports pies to Spain has been rescued from administration - saving 122 jobs.
Bakery Products Limited, owners of the Woodhead Bakery in Scarborough, has taken over Hobson Foods Limited which traded under the Tindale & Stanton brand.
The new business will operate as Tindale & Stanton Limited from its factory in Burnopfield County Durham which makes pies and pasties for local retailers, fish & chips shops and cafes. It also operates a wholesale division supplying national supermarket chains, and an export division that serves the British expat community in Spain, Ibiza and Tenerife.
The company, which was founded by Bill Tindale 25 years ago, collapsed earlier this week after battling against the economic downturn and rocketing wheat prices. Last year, in a bid to slash costs, it closed its bakery in Gateshead, transferring all 16 staff to the Burnopfield headquarters. Company owner Peter Frankland had earlier saved the business in a management buyout after it fell into administration in 2008. In March, the family-owned Woodhead Bakery itself fell victim to the recession that has claimed Tees Valley Bakery, in Middlesbrough and Newcastle-based North-East Bakery, which ran 13 Nichols high street shops. Woodhead was saved following the intervention of Midlands-based Bakery Products and Coopland & Sons of Scarborough who bought up all of its stores apart from a branch in Redcar where 30 jobs were lost. Commenting on the latest acquisition, a spokesperson for Bakery Products, said: "When Hobson Foods became available, we saw a unique opportunity to save a successful business that shares our traditional family bakery ethics.
"Tindale & Stanton will complement and enhance the current range offered by the Woodhead Bakery. The two businesses have strong synergies in that each is well known and respected in its respective geographical area with a focus on quality, range and value for money.
"The acquisition also facilitates economies of scale through shared management and resources and opens up a variety of new opportunities to grow the Bakery Products business.
"This is the start of a brand new era for the business which we firmly believe has a very bright future."
It is planned that the 122 Tindale & Stanton staff in place when the acquisition was agreed with the sales agent will retain their positions, however about three staff have lost their jobs.
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