A major UK supermarket has revealed the exact date its cafes will shut and it is days away. Sainsbury's will close 61 of its in-store supermarket cafes on Friday, April 11, the company has said. The overhaul will see 3,000 jobs cut. The decision to close Sainsbury's in-store cafes was taken in an attempt to cut the supermarket's spending by £1 billion per year in a "particularly challenging cost environment", chief executive of the supermarket group Simon Roberts has said.
Roberts said that the in-store cafes were not visited by customers as regulary as they used to be and that there has instead been a growth in popularity in food halls and concessions run by their "specialist partners". The planned closure of the cafes was first announced in January. In a recent statement, a spokesperson for the supermarket said: "In January, we shared the difficult decision that our remaining Sainsbury’s cafes would be closing and this will take place on April 11.
The statement continued: "We are sorry for any disappointment this may cause. Our stores continue to support the customers and communities they serve in a range of ways, including through fundraising, volunteering and donations to good causes.
"We’re exploring future opportunities for the space and will keep our colleagues and customers updated."
Meanwhile, Roberts 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."
However, there are plans for the cafes to be replaced by franchise eateries such as Gourmet Burger Kitchen and Starbucks.
The news comes despite the supermarket, which has more than 1,400 stores in the UK, recently announced its "biggest ever" Christmas trading period with predicted profits being over £1 billion.
Sainbiry's workfore will be reduced by 2 percent. It also plans to close its remaining patisserie, hot food and pizza counters in-store and move popular items from these areas to supermarket shelves.
The remaining Sainsbury's in-store cafes that are closing are:
