Vermont

80-Year-Old Vt. Bakery Closes; Financial Losses Cited

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Koffee Kup Bakery, an-80-year-old Vermont company that sold products in New England, around New York City, Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania and Maryland, closed Monday and laid off hundreds of workers in Burlington and Brattleboro.

The Vermont Department of Labor confirmed 156 workers at the Burlington Koffee Kup site and 91 workers at the Brattleboro Vermont Bread Company location lost their jobs, the Burlington Free Press reported.

New York City-based American Industrial Acquisition Corporation bought the company a few weeks ago, according to a news release from G2 Capital Advisors, a financial advisor to the company. Jeff Sands of Dorset Partners, a financial advisor to the owner, sent out a written release about the closing.

"For each of the last four years Koffee Kup has suffered substantial financial losses and was unable to find a way out of their troubles," the release said. "Employees, lenders, suppliers and customers all went above and beyond to support Koffee Kup during that time," the statement said, while noting that in the last six months the company was unable to find a new investor/operator.

A total of about 450 employees were laid off, about half in Vermont and others at a Connecticut-based bakery, the newspaper reported.

According to the bakery's website, the business started in 1940 with the owner making donuts and delivering them by bicycle to mom-and-pop stores in Burlington. After a three-year hiatus during World War II, the business started up again and eventually moved to its Riverside Avenue location in 1964. The company acquired Vermont Bread in 2013.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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