Major UK supermarket to close 52 cafes putting hundreds of jobs at risk

Zoe Hodges

They have blamed next month’s Budget triggered cost hikes

Supermarket giant Morrisons has announced it will close 52 cafes, all 18 Market Kitchens, 17 Convenience stores, 13 florists, 35 meat counters, 35 fish counters and four pharmacies – putting hundreds of jobs at risk.

The company says a ‘wide-ranging review’ identified several areas where the costs of operations are ‘significantly out of line with usage, volumes or the value that customers place on them’.

As a result, 365 jobs will be cut with next month’s Budget triggered cost hikes being partly blamed.

It said a ‘significant majority’ of staff affected by the changes were expected to be deployed in elsewhere in Morrisons, but that there will be a total of around 365 colleagues at risk of redundancy.

Despite the closures, the CEO insists that Morrisons and its cafes have a ‘bright future’.

Rami Baitiéh, chief executive of Morrisons, said: “The changes we are announcing today are a necessary part of our plans to renew and reinvigorate Morrisons and enable us to focus our investment into the areas that customers really value and that can play a full part in our growth.

“Morrisons Cafés are rightly famous for their great quality well-priced food, their place in the local community and their appealing mix of traditional favourites alongside exciting new dishes. In most locations the Morrisons Café has a bright future, but a minority have specific local challenges and in those locations, regrettably, closure and re-allocation of the space is the only sensible option.

“Market Street is a beacon of differentiation for Morrisons and we remain committed to it. But as we modernise we are making some necessary changes to the areas of the model which are simply uneconomic. In some stores where we are closing counters or Cafés, we plan to work with third parties to provide a relevant specialist offer.”

It comes after Sainsbury’s announced plans back in January to close all its remaining in-store cafes, resulting in 3000 job losses.

The proposals also included closing all remaining hot food, pizza and patisserie counters in its supermarkets nationwide. Like Morrisons, the increase in national insurance was said to be a factor.

Cafés set to close