Sainsbury's confirms 3 food counters axed from supermarkets for crucial reason

Sainsbury'shas decided to cut three major services from its stores nationwidestarting this summer, in a bid to "drive growth".

The retail giant has shut down its patisserie, hot food, and pizza counters as part of a strategy to free up space for an expanded selection of fresh food offerings. The decision to eliminate these services was revealed in Sainsbury's financial report earlier in the year, highlighting the aim to "drive growth and availability at a reduced cost to serve".

Sainsbury's confirmed toThe Expressthat despite the closures, the most popular items from these counters will still be available in self-serve cabinets across the majority of its stores. Additionally, Sainsbury's is gearing up to introduce new "On the Go" hubs, set to provide hot food options to shoppers by autumn.

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This move comes on the heels of the shutdown of all Sainsbury's Cafes earlier in the year, which led to 3,000 job cuts. The supermarket chain explained that these redundancies, affecting roughly 2% of its 148,000-strong workforce, were necessary to "simplify the business" in light of a tough economic climate.

In a statement released earlier this year, Sainsbury's announced: "In January, we announced a number of propositional changes to food services in our stores in order to drive growth and availability at a reduced cost to serve, allowing us to create further space to offer more fresh food ranges."

Sainsbury's has announced a major shake-up, revealing that by early summer, it will shut down its patisserie, hot food, and pizza counters, opting instead to offer the most popular items directly on the shop floor. The supermarket giant has also confirmed the closure of all remaining Sainsbury's Cafés and is transitioning its scratch bakeries to bake-off, promising enhanced quality, value, and availability throughout the day.

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The retailer further disclosed: "From the Autumn, we will create new On the Go hubs with flexiserve hot food offerings, delivering an improved customer experience."

Sainsbury's is confident that these strategic changes will contribute significantly towards achieving its ambitious target of £1 billion in cost savings by March 2027.

Simon Roberts, Chief Executive of J Sainsbury plc, commented on the company's progress: "We've transformed our business over the past four years. We have created a winning combination of value, quality and service that customers love, investing £1 billion in lowering our prices."

Roberts added, "More people are choosing Sainsbury's for their main grocery shop as a result, delivering our highest market share gains in more than a decade. We are committed, above all else, to sustaining the strong competitive position we have built - consistently giving customers the great value they have come to expect from Sainsbury's - and we expect to continue to outperform the market."

"Our customer offer is the strongest it has ever been. We've expanded Aldi Price Match to more products than ever before in addition to offers on more than 9,000 products with Nectar Prices. Customer satisfaction with product availability is at record levels and we're continuing to add more new, innovative products to our ranges."

He further stated: "Nectar is taking our ability to create personalised value and loyalty to the next level and our long-term contracts with farmers and suppliers demonstrate our commitment to resilience and sustainability across the UK food system."