MINNEAPOLIS — Rise Baking Co. announced it will be shutting down its baking plant in Mexico, Mo., effective Sept. 30.

“Foodservice challenges resulting from the pandemic have had a significantly negative impact on the Mexico plant, which supplies 90% of its product to the foodservice sector,” Rise Baking said. “This difficult decision was made after vetting all other options.”

The closing will affect about 100 employees.

“Affected employees have been notified and given an opportunity to meet one-on-one with Rise leadership and human resources to address any questions or concerns,” the company said. “Rise is working with a local employment transition team to provide information on re-employment services and current job openings. Additionally, Rise will be holding an on-site job fair for internal opportunities within the company, as well as coordinating a hiring event with nearby businesses.”

Rise Baking is a provider of cookies, cakes, brownies, muffins, dessert bars, artisan bread and flatbreads in North America to in-store bakeries as well as foodservice providers. The company acquired the Mexico plant as part of its 2020 acquisition of the North American frozen manufacturing business of Dawn Foods.

At the time of Rise’s acquisition of Dawn Foods, Mike Schultz, chief executive officer of Rise, said, “The Dawn frozen bakery division is a perfect fit for Rise as we look to bring additional products and innovation to the marketplace. We look forward to welcoming our new teammates to Rise Baking.”

In addition to the plant in Missouri, Rise acquired Dawn’s facilities in York, Pa.; Atlanta; and Manteno, Ill.

Rise Baking is part of private equity firm Olympus Partners. Olympus acquired Rise from Arbor Investments, another private equity company, in 2018.