The new bread reality 99-centime breads bring Swiss bakers to the brink of ruin
The bread industry is under massive pressure. While discounters advertise with predatory prices, small bakeries and even industrial groups such as Aryzta are struggling. The price war is claiming victims - and changing the Swiss bread cosmos forever.
20.10.2025, 16:07
SDA
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- Industry giant Aryzta is cutting dozens of jobs and smaller bakeries are also closing.
- Discounters are driving the price war with 99-centime breads and jeopardizing the cost coverage of many businesses.
- Politicians are rejecting protectionist measures, while the market is rapidly consolidating.
Fierce competition is currently raging in the bread sector. 99-centime bread and store closures are symptoms of this. It is not only the local bakeries that are under pressure, but also the industrial bread producers themselves.
The Swiss group and Hiestand successor Aryzta, the world's leading supplier of frozen bakery products, is cutting dozens of its 7700 jobs worldwide. "Unfortunately, this is a necessity in the industry," said Aryzta CEO Urs Jordi on Monday on the occasion of the publication of quarterly figures. The Schlieren-based company is suffering from increased costs and subdued consumer sentiment worldwide.
In Switzerland, bakery closures are currently making headlines. In German-speaking Switzerland, for example, the traditional bakery Limmatbeck filed for bankruptcy in September and closed its six branches. Migros is also closing its fresh bread site in Münchenstein at the end of the year and relocating capacities because demand for traditional fresh bread has fallen and demand for oven-fresh goods baked in the stores has risen.
Fewer sales outlets
Over the past 20 years, there have been major upheavals in Switzerland. The number of members of the Swiss Association of Master Bakers and Confectioners (SBC) has halved from just under 3,300 in 2005 to 1,700 this year.
However, the number of bakery outlets run by SBC members only fell from around 2900 to 2400. This is evidence of consolidation and takeovers: Fewer companies are operating more outlets.
A similar pattern can be seen internationally: large manufacturers are bundling capacities, closing plants, streamlining networks or making acquisitions in order to exploit economies of scale and spread fixed costs.
In Germany, the large bakery Leifert filed for insolvency in October 2025. Dozens of supermarket locations are affected. In Spain, Aryzta's competitor Bimbo announced several hundred job cuts as part of a restructuring program.
The result is a market with fewer but larger and more efficiently organized players. Small suppliers will probably only have opportunities with niche products that are based on manual labor or regional roots, among other things.
High costs for raw materials and personnel, little price leeway
A current industry report from the summer describes persistently high energy and raw material prices, rising personnel costs due to a shortage of skilled workers and limited price leeway as the major challenges. At the same time, the pressure to invest in more efficient ovens, cooling and digitalization is increasing.
Industry experts agree that those who work efficiently, are innovative and offer high-quality products will survive.
The competitive dynamics have recently been further intensified by the price war for the standard 500 gram bread. A few days ago, the discounter Aldi offered the "Pfünder" for 99 centimes for advertising purposes; wholesalers followed suit and announced price reductions.
For many village bakeries with higher wage, energy and rental costs, this price level does not cover their costs. Their indignation was correspondingly great.
Protection from imports
Small businesses in particular are hoping for help from politicians and possible protectionist measures. A motion in the National Council calls for the tariff concessions for imports of semi-finished and finished baked goods to be abolished in order to support domestic bread grain.
However, the Federal Council rejects this: adjusting the preferences vis-à-vis the EU would require renegotiating the free trade agreement and create additional risks and uncertainties for the processing industry.
"We are in a new world - that requires consistent measures," said Aryzta CEO Jordi two weeks ago. The industry is in a consolidation phase. "The strongest will survive."
Despite the gloomy consumer climate, Jordi sees the bakery industry as a long-term winner. Compared to other sources of calories such as meat, milk or fruit, bread is cheap, efficient and environmentally friendly.
