Sainsbury's to axe 3,000 jobs and close all remaining in-store cafes

Sainsbury's, the supermarket behemoth, has revealed it will be cutting over 3,000 jobs as it plans to shut down all of its in-store cafes.

The restructuring is set to impact two per cent of its vast workforce of 148,000 and will also lead to the redundancy of around 20 per cent of Sainsbury's senior leadership roles, as reported by City AM.

This move is part of Sainsbury's strategy to streamline their business with an emphasis on fewer, larger roles and a simplified structure for head office and managing teams.

The company also disclosed its decision to close down the last 61 Sainsbury's Cafes pending consultation, citing that most customers infrequently use the cafes, while in-store food halls and concessions have seen rising popularity.

Chief Executive Simon Roberts highlighted the challenging financial climate impacting the supermarket industry. He stated: "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."

He added: "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 concluded with a commitment to support the affected staff, asserting: "We’ll be doing everything we can to support anyone impacted by today’s announcements."

Following the festive season, Sainsbury’s – parent company of Argos and Habitat – announced earlier this month that it experienced its "biggest ever Christmas". The retail giant reported a 3.8 per cent uplift in sales during the six-week period leading up to January 4th.