Key takeaways:
- Frank Roberts & Sons Ltd has entered administration, with control now in the hands of insolvency specialists as more than 400 jobs hang in the balance.
- Insolvency expert Nick Stockley warns the company will likely be dissolved, with its brand name and key assets sold to the highest bidder.
- The UK bakery sector faces further consolidation, as the loss of Roberts marks another major contraction in Britain’s £5.7 billion bread market.
The future of Roberts Bakery is hanging by a thread. The 138-year-old Cheshire business has filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators, handing control to insolvency specialists who’ll now decide its fate.
That filing, made on October 6, gives Roberts temporary protection from creditors while advisers explore possible buyers. But it also signals the end of an era for one of Britain’s oldest family-owned bread makers.
According to Nick Stockley, partner at law firm Mayo Wynne Baxter, the company’s future is now in the hands of administrators acting for creditors rather than the Roberts family.
“Frank Roberts and Sons Limited’s decision to put Roberts Bakery into administration will mean that all company decisions will now be taken by the administrators and the directors will no longer have any control,” said Stockley. “Roberts’ future will now be determined by what is in the best interest of Roberts’ creditors.”
He added that while the administrators may attempt to keep parts of the business trading, a full recovery looks unlikely.
“Jobs will inevitably be lost and the company will focus on producing its profitable items,” he said. “The Roberts brand may not disappear entirely from the shelves, but its products will most likely be manufactured by the party that buys the brand name.”
The cost of losing Roberts
To understand what’s at stake, it helps to zoom out. The UK bakery market is worth around £5.7 billion, according to the Federation of Bakers, with more than 4.5 billion bakery units sold each year – roughly 13 million loaves and packs every single day. IBISWorld estimates the wider bread and bakery goods production industry at about £10.5 billion, employing tens of thousands nationwide.
Within that mix, Roberts wasn’t a small player. Before its troubles, the company turned over more than £90 million a year, employed around 750 people and ranked among the UK’s top four bread brands, behind Warburtons, Hovis and Kingsmill. At its peak, Roberts produced more than two million loaves a week for major supermarkets including Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons.
Losing Roberts in its current form would be more than a regional setback – it would mark a significant contraction in Britain’s breadmaking capacity at a time when the sector is already struggling with overcapacity, energy costs and shrinking demand.
A buyer for the brand, not the bakery
Speculation is already swirling about what might happen next. The Grocer reported that Warburtons had been eyeing Roberts’ specialty breads factory, while BBF, the Endless-owned cake maker, has looked at its biscuit arm.
Stockley suggested that scenario – where profitable assets and intellectual property are sold off – is the most likely outcome.
“The current directors may be able to regroup and buy some of the assets and trade Roberts as a new legal entity,” he said. “However, it is more likely that a third-party buyer will acquire the best assets and Roberts Bakery, as it currently exists, will eventually be dissolved.”
That would mirror what’s happened in other bakery collapses, where brands survive in name only, manufactured elsewhere under new ownership.
The end of a family legacy?
Founded in 1887, Roberts began as a small bakery in Northwich and grew into one of Britain’s best-known bread producers. It supplied major supermarkets and built its reputation on consistency and family stewardship.
But its decline has been long in the making. A devastating fire in 2023 destroyed nearly two-thirds of production capacity at its Northwich plant, triggering a 21% fall in turnover to £76 million. A £19.9 million insurance payout briefly restored profitability – pushing 2024 EBITDA to £24.3 million – but the company never fully recovered as inflation, energy shocks and supermarket price wars bit hard.
For now, Roberts says it remains “actively engaged” with potential partners and funders and that day-to-day operations are continuing as normal. But if Stockley’s prediction holds, the Roberts name may soon live on under new ownership – while the family business itself fades into history.
