Darrell Lea has been sold and hundreds of jobs are expected to go
Troubled confectionery maker Darrell Lea will remain in Australian hands but hundreds of jobs will go as the loss-making business is restructured.
But chocoholics in Tamworth are being assured they will still be able to get their local fix – because the city store is a stockist and not part of the chain, and stocks will be moved into supermarkets as well.
Darrell Lea has been sold to the Quinn family, which owns the Queensland-based VIP Petfoods.
The family plans to restructure the confectionery maker, axing 246 permanent and 172 casual Darrell Lea jobs in the process.
The remaining 27 Darrell Lea company-owned stores will close on Sunday, but chocolate lovers will still be able to
buy Darrell Lea goods through the network
of 1200 licensed retail-
ers, wholesalers and exporters.
Darrell Lea was put up for sale in July after administrators took control of the company to save it from financial ruin.
Cahills Darrell Lea in City Plaza said yesterday, as the business was a stockist, it would continue to sell Darrell Lea products and would not be closing its doors.
“We’re not going anywhere,” manager Tina O’Brien said, in spite of fielding hundreds of questions about their continued trading.
“As we are just stockists, we are not affected by any action regarding Darrell Lea.”