The news hits hard in Minneapolis. Two New French Bakery plants are shutting down, and 166 workers are set to lose their jobs.
The closures affect facilities on Kasota Avenue and 26th Avenue S., ending another chapter for a longtime local food manufacturer. Layoffs are scheduled to begin Dec. 29, according to a notice sent to Minnesota officials.
What’s closing and who is affected
The two facilities are both tied to New French Bakery, a company known for selling baked goods to grocery stores and food-service customers across the country. The job cuts span a wide range of roles, including technicians, managers, and sanitation employees.
The total number of affected workers is 166, a significant loss for Minneapolis manufacturing. The shutdown notice makes clear that both production sites, one on Kasota Avenue and the other on 26th Avenue S., are part of the closure plan.
This is not a small trim or a temporary pause. The layoffs begin Dec. 29, giving workers only a short runway before the plants go dark.
Why the plants are shutting down now
The timing is closely tied to a recent ownership change. In September, Minnesota-based Rise Baking Co. sold its New French Bakery subsidiary to Toronto-based FGF Brands.
Rise itself had just gone through a major deal in 2024, when private equity firms Platinum Equity and Butterfly bought the company for potentially $2.5 billion. After that transaction, New French Bakery changed hands again within months.
FGF Brands, which owns names like Stonefire and makes products such as naan bread, bought the Minneapolis properties in September. Hennepin County property records show FGF paid about $1.9 million for the Kasota Avenue facility and $598,865 for the 26th Avenue site.
A longer history of change in Minnesota food manufacturing
New French Bakery has been through several ownership changes since 2013. That was the year founder Peter Kelsey sold the company to Chicago private equity firm Arbor Investments after building it over 20 years into a business with 300 employees and millions in revenue.
At the time of that 2013 sale, Kelsey had struggled to borrow $6 million from banks to add another production line. That detail says a lot about how even growing food businesses can face financial limits.
The closures also add to a rough stretch for Minnesota’s food industry. Recent months have brought the announced closure of Pearson’s Candy, while Revol Greens near Owatonna said in a separate filing that layoffs were being postponed until at least Nov. 6 as it tried to complete a transaction that could keep operations going.
