Amoroso’s OKs deal with drivers to buy routes

Amoroso’s Baking Company has reached an agreement with its union drivers to turn them into entrepreneurs.

The deal between Amoroso’s and Teamsters Local 463 converts 40 of the Philadelphia bakery’s routes to independent distributors beginning Aug. 8. Instead of the company paying the drivers, they will sell the products to the stores directly.

Christine Reimert, a spokeswoman for Amoroso’s, said the agreement will allow for a four-year transition period to convert all the routes to independent distributors.

“Many of those will be owned and operated by the very same men who have been employee drivers of Amoroso’s for years. Some of the independent distributors will be from people who have bought into those from outside the company,” she said. “Amoroso’s will also maintain 18 to 20 of the routes as employee drivers.”

The employee drivers will be the union members with the most seniority. The drivers who chose not to purchase routes will get a severance payment through a union plan funded by the baker. Reimert said the transition is to make Amoroso’s, well-known for its hoagie rolls, competitive with other companies that have similar distributor agreements.