Mercadona to stop baking its own bread in favour of buying in from local suppliers

The Spanish supermarket chain will strengthen its collaboration with local businesses and says that the measure will not affect the 650 employees working on its bakery lines

EUROPA PRESS

Valencia

Friday, 30 September 2022 | Updated 03/10/2022 18:38h.

Mercadona is to stop making its own bread, the only product it manufactures in-house, in favour of buying in from local suppliers. The Valencian chain has decided to "reinforce" the quality of its bread category and "optimise" its manufacturing processes to generate "greater efficiency and profitability".

In a press release the company said the decision comes after having launched a pilot project in 2018 with the collaboration of several specialist suppliers who initially took on the production of more than 20 million kilos per year of bread, specifically specialities such as milk, or wholemeal breads.

After this initial test, the company has gradually incorporated more local suppliers into the strategy, such as Valero, which has been making 'pan payés' in Catalonia since 2021, or PandeCan, which has been making millet and aniseed bread in the Canary Islands since the beginning of 2022; or Mondat, an Andalusian supplier, which has been making the 'wholemeal sandwich' for several months.

All of them have contributed, thanks to their "deeper" knowledge of the process and better management of raw materials, to boosting the competitiveness of this product category.

Mercadona, which currently has 20 bread lines located in eight of its logistics blocks, will continue to progressively replace its own bread production until the implementation of the new specialist suppliers is completed.

The measure, however, will not affect the 650 staff currently working on the bread lines, who will be relocated as the strategy is implemented. The company has already informed the workers' legal representatives of the decision.