By 3 News online staff
The supermarket bread wars are putting jobs at risk, according to the union which represents bakers.
In recent months both Pak'nSave and Countdown supermarkets have lowered the price of their budget bread ranges to $1 a loaf, and the Bakers and Pastrycooks Union says this is cutting into sales of the more profitable brands.
Secretary Norm Holley told the New Zealand Herald premium brands like Vogel's are doing fine, but mid-priced breads are being shunned.
"The person who will buy Vogel's bread will buy Vogel's bread. The people who will buy their gluten-free bread will buy their gluten-free bread," he told the paper.
"But the average run-of-the-mill shopper is going to look at [the price] and go 'oh well', and the other stuff stays there on the shelf."
The competition has forced down the prices of other brands, a Countdown spokesperson told the paper, boosting overall sales.
The aggressive pricing, which Countdown operator Progressive says is here to stay, is putting nearly 400 jobs at bakers Goodman Fielder and George Weston Foods "under siege", says Mr Holley.
Both have contracts with the supermarkets to supply cheap bread.
"Each is looking at the other one and thinking, if we don't supply ... you're going to get all the bread [sales]," Mr Holley told the Herald.
Unlike Progressive Enterprises, Foodstuffs – which operates Pak'nSave – doesn't believe the $1 pricing can be sustained.
3 News
source: newshub archive
