Sainsbury’s to “transform” food offer with new BRG restaurants hubs, Starbucks outlets
30 food halls and 30 Starbucks cafes are slated to open in the first year, targeting 250 in total.
Sainsbury’s revealed plans to transform its eat-in, takeaway and home delivery food and drink offer after a trial of Boparan Restaurant Group’s The Restaurant Hub at its Selly Oak store in Birmingham.
The two companies are now planning to open 30 more The Restaurant Hubs in the next year, with the intention to “accelerate the roll-out in future years if the format continues to be popular with customers.”
Sainsbury’s will also open a further 30 Starbucks coffee shops in its supermarkets in the next twelve months, bringing the total number of Starbucks in Sainsbury’s supermarkets to 60.
Working with both BRG and Starbucks, Sainsbury’s is aiming to enforce the transformation plan in 250 of its supermarkets over the next three years.
“Through our trials with Boparan Restaurant Group and Starbucks we have learnt that we can offer customers a much better eat-in and takeaway experience working with partners. We are totally focused on improving what we can deliver for our customers and at the same time, working hard to make our business simpler. We are really excited about this new customer offer we will be rolling out over the next two to three years across many of our stores,” Sainsbury’s chief executive Simon Roberts said.
Sainsbury’s said it has spoken to all of its cafe colleagues to let them know that it is proposing to close 200 Sainsbury’s cafes in the spring this year, with around 2,000 colleagues likely to be impacted because of the changes.
Colleagues affected, the group said. will be prioritised for vacant roles in Sainsbury’s stores and will be encouraged to explore alternative roles within the wider business. 67 Sainsbury’s cafes will stay open whilst Sainsbury’s reviews rollout plans.
Sainsbury’s also announced plans to close “less popular” hot food counters in 34 stores and “simplify” the way it runs its bakeries in 54 stores. These colleagues will enter into consultation, it said, with the aim of redeploying those affected to other areas of their store where possible.
“As we go through this period of transition, we have taken the difficult decision to close 200 of our cafes next month. We have spoken to all colleagues affected by these changes today and are absolutely committed to supporting them in any way we can during this uncertain time. Of course, we understand this is very unsettling for our colleagues, but we must keep adapting our business to make sure we are offering customers the best possible food and drink at affordable prices,” Roberts explained.
