Sainsbury’s has proposed the closure of all remaining patisserie, hot food, and pizza counters, in addition to its 61 Sainsbury’s Cafés.
While the café closures are still subject to consultation, they are expected to be implemented in the coming months. This move aligns with Sainsbury’s progress into the “second year of its three-year Next Level strategy.”
Moving forward, Sainsbury’s intends to reorganize its head office departments. This change will result in fewer roles, albeit larger ones, being created within the organization.
The proposal aims to “drive faster decision making,” ultimately leading to an estimated 20% reduction in senior management positions.
Details concerning the specific roles affected by the redundancies have yet to be released.
In discussing this difficult decision, Sainsbury’s chief executive Simon Roberts highlighted the “particularly challenging cost environment” in the UK.
“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,” Roberts stated.
“We’ll be doing everything we can to support anyone impacted by today’s announcements.”
Recent changes include the appointment of Rhian Bartlett as chief commercial officer and the designation of Graham Biggart as both chief strategy and supply officer, along with his role as managing director of Argos.
This announcement comes only two weeks after Sainsbury’s revealed plans to raise hourly wages to £12.60 per hour starting August 2025.
‘Paying the price’
This proposal has attracted criticism from Unite the Union. National officer for food Paul Travers described the decision as an instance of “profiteering.”
“Once again, the lowest paid workers are paying the price for corporate greed,” Travers expressed.
“Sainsbury’s is a hugely profitable company and made over half a billion pounds in profit last year. Yet they are proposing thousands of redundancies of store workers while deskilling qualified bakers by removing on-site bakeries. Meanwhile, well-paid managers are being shielded from job losses.”
“This is a blatant example of profiteering on the backs of workers and then sticking the knife in. Sainsbury’s should be ashamed of taking this path. Unite will fight for our members’ jobs during any consultation process and help them through this difficult time.”