at home The Zwanenberg Food Group (ZFG) wants to close the Struik Foods sausage and soup production plant near Voorthuizen at the beginning of 2023. About 160 people work on the site in Voorthuizerweg, officially Nijkerk. Zwanenberg stated in a press release that the goal is to retain as many employees as possible for the company by reassigning to other locations. Staff were notified Wednesday afternoon.
Zwanenberg will expand its soup and sausage production lines in Oss. Since the acquisition of Struik Foods in March 2020, Zwanenberg has four production sites for preserves in the Netherlands. Pretty much the same activities take place at these sites. “The gist of this step is that we will soon be producing the same volumes, but in one lower location,” says Martin Elsinga, general manager of the Zwanenberg Food Group.
Huge cost increase “Following the takeover of Struik on March 13, 2020, we immediately faced all the consequences of the Covid problem,” Elsinga explains in the press release. “The first priority was to provide our customers with the best possible products. We have also implemented several operational improvements.”
“But right now, we are experiencing massive cost increases across the entire chain: raw materials, energy, logistics, packaging, etc. We expect that we will not be able to pass these cost increases on to our entire customers with delay. As a result, we have no choice but to Implement significant cost-saving measures immediately.”
Short-term After considering various alternatives, the company came to the conclusion that ending production at Voorthuizen was the most obvious option, according to Elsinga. This will enable us to achieve our goal in a relatively short period of time. This project is expected to be completed within 2023.”
According to the director, the labor council has been asked to advise and unions have been informed of the intention. ZFG’s goal is to retain as many employees as possible for the company. The ZFG will discuss this with employee organizations.
they Almelo’s Zwanenberg Food Group claims to be a food group with approximately 1,800 employees and a turnover of around €600 million. In Benelux, the company is best known for its Kips (liver sausage, pate, snacks, vegetarian products), Huls (dry sausage), Struik (fried sausage, soups, meals) and Chicken Tonight (meal sauces). Zwanenberg Food Group has production sites in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States.
