Hi everyone, we have just been told we are getting new ovens, no date yet but been measured up. Do you guys think tesco are being crafty and preparing for us to be going part bake, or has tesco suddenly realized they have to maintain their bakeries. Any other stores getting new equipment like ovens as we are a little worried skilled bakers could be next on the hit list :) :) :)
with frozen dough on the horizon,I doubt they will be normal ones
I'd guess at part bake saving extra skills payments
being measured up is no indication of it actually happening, our dotcom dept chillers and freezers were measured up to get changed over 6 years ago and still nothing has been done
Agree with Stevil, measuring up means nothing. The day the story leaked about Deli and restaurants going our store was busy installing all new counters and new hot and cold counters in the restaurant. That was money well spent :)
We only have one working revent the other went bang ,and the working one has four burnt out elements ,
I think they send out people measuring up now and again to keep the people with the tape measures in work.
Or was it a case of the people with the tape measures could have been measuring the surrounding floor area / packing area and layout of bakery as most ovens would be a standard model - make - style with dimensions easily available from supplier etc , you never know what could happen with this company , This time next week you might have Gregg's / Pound Bakery renting the floor space with Drastic Dave in charge ?. :-X :-X
No the guy told my baker colleague the name of the company that made the ovens as I was on a day off at the time I don't know it, I don't trust drastic that's for sure. 16 years with tesco means nothing to them.
Its business as usual until they decide to pull the plug, so you'll still get new oven etc etc.
If Tesco instal new anything it will be as automated as possible.
They simply want to eradicate as many staff from the operation as they can. Machines and computers don't go sick or need holidays......
Unfortunately, as we have found in distribution, when the machines and computers do "go sick" everything grinds to a halt.
If I was an in store baker I would be seriously considering my options elsewhere :(
and give up 16 years redundancy as a skilled baker ,I have to wait it out and see what happens
Our ovens replaced just before Christmas pretty much a straight swap, nothing different or new about them, except they leak water like a bugger abs trying to get someone out to fix is impossible as it's under warranty.
There is a real possibility that you are getting more efficient ovens that uses much less electricity and will have a lower kWh value that your existing ovens.
Apparently they are leaving the bakeries alone for this year according to the press release when all the counter and stock control axing's were leaked.
That doesn't mean that Drastic's hatchet isn't going to attack the bakery's next year, nowhere and nobody is safe in retail, especially in the big T.
Like many of my friends still, you're left with an unenviable choice of stay and wait for the possibility of redundancy, or run for the hills and hopefully end up with a company where your loyalty and service is appreciated.
Not an easy choice to make, personally the massive long term stress of uncertainty in my department made me leave after nearly 15 years and i now do something complete polar opposite to what i did....
Update: it's one new oven with the deck getting repaired and the revent having new parts as well, we were told at first all ovens being replaced.
We had our deck ovens replaced in our scratch bakery last month. Do exactly the same job. Guy fitting said they use 1/3 less power to do same job, that's the saving.
So my bakery is meant to be getting a new French oven on Sunday, had it all measured up a couple months ago but only happening now (if it actually happens).
Half the stuff in here doesn't even work properly and obviously rumoured to be closing scratch bakeries down.
My boss is saying he reckons January but no idea where he got that info from or if that's even true.
Does anyone happen to have any info they've heard floating about?
Probably in the same predicament as others where I want to move on and get another job but also would like to wait for redundancy.
l heard from some of my mangers there will be announcement January / February the sooner the better cant wait to get out 23 years the last few years have been poor hell to work for this s,,t company
Don't want to get my hopes up but yeah I agree, the sooner the better and if your managers are saying around January as well then hopefully there's some truth to it!
We're literally running the bakery with faulty equipment and haven't done soft roll for at least 6 months now because they refuse to pay out for a new part to repair the roll plant.
So yeah our revent oven was replaced on Sunday, dunno if our old one was really old but this new one is so much more modern, it's a mono oven, touch screen and has so much more options than our previous one. Maybe getting ready for part bake who knows? Or could of just replaced cause the last one was so bad. Still the bread plant and roll plant is faulty though and the deck ovens are terrible with steaming.
Also paninis are coming in pre packed now. And in the frozen deliveries, frozen loafs and French sticks have been building up.
I kinda feel they are preparing for it but waiting and anticipating isnt good. Wish they would just let us know or not as soon as so we can plan out what's happening.
I'm sure there will be more revelations come January/February. They'll want to get hard work out of everyone over Xmas before breaking the bad/good news after the busy period is over.
Definitely seems like it's when, not if they go, anyone any idea how the trials are going?
Hard work don't think so Easter is busier,trade is rubbish at the moment everyone's going to the discounters.
I agree it definitely seems like when and not if.
But yeah if anyone does hear any info on it, it will be much appreciated if you can pop a message in here.
I'll do the same if I hear anything.
A do notice all the slight changes all leading to us shutting they will wait till Xmas is over then go part bake then they can get any one to do the part bake stuff
To be honest, fingers crossed that they do. The sooner the better, can't speak for others but our bakery is falling apart and has been for a long while.
Store manager got asked by one of the night bakers if we are gonna be getting rid of the scratch bakeries and he replied with saying "all I can say is I'll only know 5 days before it's made public if it happens"
Has anybody had their bakery convert to bake off because of unrepairable bakery machinery?
No but our SD keeps moaning about quality of bread ,what does he expect when ovens over 10 years old and never maintained don't know about anyone else if your oven at home don't bake right you buy a new one.
I'm not sure about the ovens but according to an engineer we had out from Miller's Vanguard, the machinery we have to make bread is no longer manufactured thus if there's no parts available, no repair and going bake off is what happens.
I'm taking it with a pinch of salt but nothing seems to be happening to fix our issue. It may just be T trying to find a cheap solution but you never know these days. :P
It'll all be bake off soon. After the cull last year it's inevitable. The bakers who got out with redundancy had the right idea.
Here's hoping for next April. Our plant bread machine has just been recommended for scrapping. It still just works but can see us doing it by hand until they make a decision on getting rid of us.
What redundancy we never got offered it.
Hopefully the timing will be better and no one eats anymore bats!
Quote from: Hammer10 on 22-08-21, 02:34PM
What redundancy we never got offered it.
Well every other skilled baker did. And 75% of them took it. Doubt they'll offer it again. The skilled element will just go onto protected pay for a few years, then any Tom, Dick and Harry can throw some frozen bread in the oven.