Supermarket giant to shed more than 1,800 bakery jobs

TESCO is to slash more than 1,800 jobs as part of changes to bakeries in its large supermarkets.

The retailer said 1,816 bakery staff are at risk of redundancy as part of the overhaul, which will take place from May.

Tesco said it will convert 58 of its bakeries to be able to finish off prebaked products in-store, and 201 sites will only bake some of

its most popular items from scratch.

It said the move, which will also see bakeries at another 257 sites remain unchanged, means it will need fewer staff members.

Jason Tarry, Tesco’s UK and ROI chief executive, said: “We need to adapt to changing customer demand and tastes for bakery products so that we continue to offer customers a market-leading bakery range in store.

“We know this will be very difficult for colleagues who are impacted, and our priority is to support them through this process. We hope that many will choose to stay with us in alternative roles.”

Tesco said it will look to find other jobs for the staff, with “thousands of store vacancies” expected to be available across its network between now and May.

The news came as the retailer completed its exit from China after selling its stake in a joint venture in the country as part of a reorganisation of overseas business.

Tesco said it has sold its 20% stake in the Gain Land joint venture to a unit of its state-run partner China Resources Holdings (CRH), raising £275m.

Tesco struggled to crack the Chinese market, ultimately combining its 131 stores in the country with partner CRH’s almost 3,000 sites in 2014.

The disposal will allow Tesco to “further simplify and focus the business on its core operations”, it said.

The supermarket chain signalled in December that it was reviewing the future of its Asian operations, after already selling its South Korean operations.

Its much larger operations in Thailand and Malaysia have reportedly been the subject of interest from investors in the region, as Tesco looks to continue to simplify its operations.

The disposal of sites in Asia comes as chief executive Dave Lewis winds down his tenure at the retail firm, before new chief Ken Murphy takes over in the summer.

An exit from Asia will leave Tesco with its Central European operations as its only remaining overseas business, alongside its core UK and Ireland business.