Sainsbury’s has confirmed plans to shut its 61 in-store cafes as part of a major overhaul. The supermarket announced its decision today and said the majority of its shoppers don’t use its cafes regularly. You can find a full list of the cafes that are being proposed for closure, subject to consultation, below. Sainsbury’s will also close its remaining patisserie, hot food and pizza counters.
The supermarket also announced it will cut head office jobs over the next few months, resulting in the loss of about 20% of its senior management roles. In total, all these changes confirmed today will result in more than 3,000 jobs being cut, which represents about 2% of the 148,000 people that currently work for Sainsbury’s.
Simon Roberts, Sainsbury’s chief executive, said the supermarket was facing a “particularly challenging cost environment”. He said: “As we accelerate into year two and beyond of our strategy, we are facing into a particularly challenging cost environment which means we have had to make tough choices about where we can afford to invest and where we need to do things differently to make our business more efficient and effective.
“The decisions we are announcing today are essential to ensure we continue to drive forward our momentum but have also meant some difficult choices impacting our dedicated colleagues in a number of parts of our business. We’ll be doing everything we can to support anyone impacted by today’s announcements.”.
It comes after Sainsbury’s warned that tax increases from the October Budget would hit it with an extra £140million in costs, warning that the changes would also lead to higher prices for customers. The rate of National Insurance paid by employers will rise from 13.8% to 15% from April 2025, while the earnings threshold for when employers start paying National Insurance will also be lowered from £9,100 per year to £5,000.
