SYRACUSE, N.Y. (FNS) -- Penn Traffic Co., parent of P&C Foods and other grocery chains, closed out November with layoffs of approximately 45 administrative and other non-store personnel, citing "leaner" post-Chapter 11 needs.
The cuts took place at corporate headquarters and two Syracuse-area distribution centers, as well as at distribution centers in Jamestown, in western New York state, and DuBois, in west-central Pennsylvania.
Penn Traffic operates 108 P&C, Bi-Lo and Quality supermarkets and is a wholesale food distributor for 119 licensed franchises/independent operators in upstate New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont and New Hampshire.
Marc Jampole, outside spokesman for the company, attributed the layoffs to Penn Traffic's increased efficiency and a drop in store units while in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from May 2003 to its emergence from proceedings on April 13.
"We have a lower need for administrative staff and fewer stores to service," Jampole said. The number of Penn Traffic stores stood at 220 in 2000, including 69 Big Bear and Big Bear Plus stores in Ohio and West Virginia. Within the bankruptcy period, he said, store units dropped from 212 to today's 108.
"During this [reorganization] period, we've been trying to become as efficient as possible," Jampole said.
He ruled out outsourcing as one of those efficiency factors.
"It's because we're smaller," he said. "We've learned how to operate more efficiently and effectively with fewer people."
