Cayo’s Casa Pan Dulce Changes Bread and Price
On Friday, we told you of plans by Dario’s Bakery to lift prices for meat pies from a dollar to a dollar twenty-five beginning today, Tuesday. Tonight, our viewers in Belmopan and San Ignacio/Santa Elena should note that beginning today, there are no more sixteen-ounce loaves of bread from Casa Pan Dulce Bakery, which are price-controlled at one dollar, seventy-five cents as agreed by the Bureau of Standards. Instead, a seventeen-ounce loaf will be produced to sell at a wholesale price of one dollar and seventy-five cents but retail for two dollars. The bakery has been in service since 2010 but has cited escalating costs, particularly for fuel and import duties as its reason for raising prices. News Five spoke to one of the proprietors, Andre Perez, via telephone this evening. He explained that they do not expect to incur any penalties from the Bureau for their actions.
On the Phone: Andre Perez, Proprietor, Casa Pan Dulce Bakery Company Ltd.
“One of the things that any prudent businessman will look at is their costs; and when we are talking about cost of goods; many people think about, ‘okay, the price of flour noh gaan up or gaan down yet;’ flour is just one of the key ingredients in the baking industry. There are so many other factors that come in when it comes [to that]. And when you start to look at these figures and the cost of goods going up sky-high, and the first three months and this month was the highest ever recorded. And I don’t want to give my figures publicly, but it’s coming at a dangerous level and telling you, listen, you really have to look and this, that [it’s] sustainable. And another thing is that keeping in mind that we also have eighty-plus employees, and considering a factor that everybody will have to take a pay cut – that’s absolutely not a road that we are not willing to take and we’re not going to. We are not prepared. We understand the hard times, so at this point in time, job security for our employees is guaranteed. We are not cutting jobs; we are not cutting salaries, not at all. We continue working. It’s not going to incur any kind of penalty, because you are not subsist; we cannot force you so that you are forced to, obliged to sell price-controlled bread. Now if we are to go there and sell this product, this sixteen-ounce which is price-controlled at a higher price then yes, we can be penalized. But we are saying it’s no use; it’s no use arguing, fighting with them; they have their hands filled up.”
For now, Casa Pan Dulce is the only bakery organizing this change; however, sources tell News Five that other bakeries are considering the same measure.
