Salzburg Chocolate: Confectionery manufacturer files for bankruptcy
In an APA letter from the management to the employees and business partners to be able to continue the company. Although you can have profits in recent years, the company will have been hard hit by the corona pandemic from 2020, writes managing director Christian Schügerl.
Due to the massive decline in tourists, events and occasions such as birthday and wedding celebrations, the demand for sweets from Salzburg Schokolade has fallen – which has led to a significant drop in sales. In addition, confectionery shops in Vienna and Salzburg were sometimes closed for weeks due to a lack of tourists.
Grödiger company with considerable losses
The decline in sales from the previous year could only be partially compensated for in the new financial year. Despite new customers and the state Corona aid, they will again incur a significant loss in the previous year. “The current lockdown and significant increases in the cost of raw materials, energy, wages, logistics costs and packaging materials were further reasons,” continued Schügerl. That is why he filed for bankruptcy today, Monday.
November wages and salaries and Christmas bonuses cannot be transferred to employees. The company referred to the insolvency remuneration fund, which ensures the secure payments and participation in the employees, to contact the Chamber of Labor (AK). The Salzburg AK President Peter Eder promised support to the employees concerned on Monday evening in the APA conversation. But first they will wait to see who will be appointed as trustee tomorrow. “We then want to do everything possible so that people who die, at least over Christmas, may not have to worry.”
Salzburg chocolate with a long tradition
Salzburg chocolate is not only known for sweets for the end consumer – for example its brands Bobby chocolate bars, “Maria Theresia” -Taler and Salzburg Confisérie. The long-established company also produces the “Real Salzburg Mozartkugel” from Mirabell exclusively for the US company Mondelez. In addition, the company believes that bulk consumers such as bakeries and confectioners sell semi-finished products such as nougat, marzipan, couvertures, waffles and glazes under the “nordpol” brand.
The company was founded in the city of Salzburg in 1897 under the name Rajsigl-Süßwarenfabrik and moved entirely to Grödig in 1956. After several changes of ownership, the majority of the shares have belonged to Philipp Harmer Beteiligungs-GmbH since 2014, with managing director Christian Schügerl holding a small part of the company. Salzburg Chocolate also has a plant in the Czech Republic that specializes in the packaging of confectionery and specialties and, according to Schüngerl, is not affected by the bankruptcy. According to the Wirtschaftskompass, sales for 2019 were EUR 28.72 million. Numbers for the first Corona year 2020 were initially not known.
(Source: APA)