Tesco, Britain’s largest grocery chain said customers were increasingly choosing wraps and bagels over traditional loaves.
The supermarket said that no bakery counters would close but hundreds of its stores would limit the amount of baking done on site.
1,816 staff are faced with potential redundancy when the changes take effect to cut cut bakery jobs starting in May, although Tesco will try to find alternative roles to accommodate those who wished to stay.
A spokesperson from Tesco has said that over recent years there has been a “big shift in customer tastes and preferences”.
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“Customers are buying fewer traditional loaves of bread and are increasingly looking for a wider range of options, with sales of wraps, bagels and flatbreads growing.”
“In the light of this, we have undertaken a review to make sure our bakery operation is relevant for the way the market and our customers have evolved.”
Tesco is the largest grocery chain in the UK and it employs 450,000 people worldwide.
The cuts of these bakery jobs are in addition to thousands of cuts announced by the supermarket chain last year. Tesco said it was cutting 9,000 jobs in a restructuring of store and head office functions.
In August Tesco said it was cutting around 4,500 jobs in an overhaul of its network of mid-size and smaller stores.
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Tesco’s UK and Ireland chief executive, Jason Tarry, 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.”
Rivals Morrisons and Sainsbury’s have recently announced that they will also make changes that will see thousands of job cuts.
