Froneri Hellas (formerly Nestlé) has announced the closure of its ice cream factory in the west Athens neighborhood of Tavros, citing measures being taken to alleviate financial difficulties the company is facing.
The factory employees 102 people and according to a statement released by Froneri, those working for the company for up to 16 years will receive compensation twice the amount stipulated by law, while those working for longer will get 2.5 times that amount. Froneri also says it will offer professional repositioning services to those who want it.
The Tavros factory was re-acquired by Nestle in 2006 after it bought Delta Ice Cream.
According to local media, employees were surprised to hear the closure decision on Monday morning. However, they spoke of wages cuts and personnel reduction in recent times.
Some say it was the biggest ice-cream factory in Greece.
PS many commentators on Greek economic news websites like this website wonder about the factory closure. Some say that consumers ice cream habits have changed in recent years, with cheaper offers – therefore in competitive prices – by the supermarket no-label ice-cream as well as home-made ice cream in local candy shops. Not to mention the local ice cream factories. Many commentators point at the high prices of the said ice cream has been sold at and thus amid the economic crisis.
Indeed the ice-creams of the company were sold mostly in kiosks, were of good quality but 6 euro for 400-500ml or 2.50-3 euro for an individual portion? And no frozen yogurt?
Recently the same company had a special offer for a vanilla-chocolate bucket we buy occasionally in summer. The content volume was quite confusing: 2000ml+800ml for free or 1,400 gr for the price of the normal bucket of 1,000ml. Whatever. The point is: we found out there discount not only in price but also in the quality especially on the chocolate part. Where was the rich, creamy chocolate? “It’s like they used choco left-overs, cocoa powder form the bottom of the box” a family member said. We felt we were cheated and decided never to buy this brand again.
Given how fat people are getting, I think the less ice cream people eat the better. I noticed in some ice cream stores they are introducing fresh sugar-free ice cream. This is what I am eating. I find the processed frozen long life ice cream very unhealthy. It’s a shame the factory is closing, but the food industry needs urgent reform.
Another company will take over , maybe Chinese , who knows . Maybe they should make better quality ice cream and charge reasable prices .