Company says competition to blame for closure of Ben's bakery in Halifax

For 104 years, Ben’s friendly face has greeted employees at the well-known Halifax bakery.

In November, the plant will close, 105 positions will be cut, and the property will be put up for sale.

Dennis Carey was laid off from Ben’s in January. He says he worries about his friends and former colleagues.

“There were rumours of it,” he says, “but I didn’t think it would actually happen.”

The employees have been advised by their union not to talk.

Meanwhile, the company blames competition.

In a statement the company president said, “Our industry is under mounting competitive pressure to become more efficient and this means we have to make very difficult decisions.”

Most of the production done in Halifax will be moved to bakeries in Moncton and Woodstock, New Brunswick.

A representative with Canada Bread says 35 jobs will be created in New Brunswick and they encourage all current employees willing to relocate to apply.

The company says Ben’s Bread Outlets and the distribution plant in Nova Scotia will not be affected.

Property Valuation Services Corporation lists the assessed value of the Quinpool Road property at nearly $2.7million.

Many neighbourhood residents say they will miss the smell of fresh bread.

The layoffs will start in June.

Any interested buyers will have to apply to have the property rezoned if they want to do anything other than run a bakery.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kelland Sundahl.