Well-known large bakery facing closure, hundreds of employees are worried about losing their jobs

The Glockenbrot large bakery in Frankfurt am Main will close in the next three to five years. This was announced by the Rewe Group, which owns the company. The jobs of the 480 employees at the site are therefore threatened. According to information on its website, Glockenbrot also supplies Billa and Penny, which belong to Rewe International in Austria.

Negotiations with the works council will begin in the coming weeks, according to a statement from Rewe. The aim is to advise on operational changes, including a reconciliation of interests and a social plan, in order to find socially acceptable solutions for the employees.

The Frankfurt factory was maxed out in terms of capacity and space; a new building with high investments would have been unavoidable. This is how the Rewe Group justified the decision.

Trading company no longer wants to bake itself

The trading company wants to withdraw from the production of bread and baked goods. The second Glockenbrot production site in the Bavarian municipality of Bergkirchen is to be sold to the German bakery Harry-Brot by the end of 2025, as both companies explained. Baked goods from Harry-Brot, based in Schenefeld near Hamburg, can also be purchased in Austro supermarkets. According to their own statements, the North Germans want to take on all of the approximately 320 employees in Bavaria. According to a spokeswoman, it is still unclear whether the name Glockenbrot will remain.

Antitrust authorities in play

Harry-Brot also wants to take over a Rewe property in Erlensee near Frankfurt am Main. A new large bakery is to be built there. However, both projects will only come about if the antitrust authorities agree. The companies did not want to comment on the purchase price.

Harry-Brot currently has ten locations and 5,000 employees in Germany. The company says it is the market leader in bread and baked goods.

The Glockenbrot bakery was founded in 1904, it has been part of the Rewe group since 1986, the location in Bavaria since 2010. The bakeries have produced exclusively for Rewe and Penny.