Job losses.

[Hammer10]

There is a substitute frozen bake off roll but not the same quality as we make from scratch.

[jonty]

We get frozen 4 pack scottish morning rolls always coming in and we make the scratch 6 pack.

I've felt the bake off french sticks before and they always seem rock hard. I wonder how people will react to scratch items going? Admittedly the scratch bread isn't popular in my store anymore apart from the weekends and xmas but the rolls and french sticks still are.

They took too many checkouts out in my store and even the store manager thinks it was a step too far and we still get people asking if we have a hot chicken counter even though the space has now been converted into back stock storage. They're certainly not wasting any time.

I guess we'll find out in the last week of January if anything is happening.

[Paulie]

My instore bakery has seen significant declines regarding sales with scratch bread and rolls, it's been a shocking year for stock and packaging, we have lost a small fortune because of this. We have only two xmas lines, which shows it doesn't look like they want to invest in bakeries.

[jonty]

Yeah the last range change has been a disaster. The lack of seasonal lines this year is noticeable. We're not even having a temp this year in our bakery, that may just be a local store decision though.

[NeglectedBaker]

The two bakeries I've worked in have seen cuts made every single year since I started in department in 2007 so this is nothing new, skeleton crew now and no one upskilled in store to even slice a loaf which was promised in 2020 when job losses were done. Takings down to 5k a week now as some days no one on department after 1pm.  My store has just had a full refit completed with nothing new for bakery.. Wish they would just tell us what their plan is instead of letting rumours spread every sodding year 🤬

[Bakersdozen]

Bakerys won't be going, bakerys before the restructuring  were losing roughly £60 million per year, through over hours, bad equipment costing thousands in energy prices and complicated processes,

After they have been simplified ingredients and hours reduced they now make £5 profit per year, our store has had two new revo ovens and was the first store in the country with the new mono deck ovens which cost £250k each, they significantly lower the energy usage, tesco have ordered 200+ of these ovens for the sctrath stores still in operation. They wouldn't be putting so much investment into a department if they were culling it.

Fresh bread and rolls are a point of difference to the cheaper retailers it's in tesco interest to still offer this Especially now they are a profitable operating instead of a money pit as before.

[Biscuit tin]

£5 profit

[Bakersdozen]

£5 profit

£5 million, numpty.

All the doom and gloomsters will hate hearing that news I'm sure 

[Biscuit tin]

Your in-denial. I await the end of January for another leak to the press and the inevitable announcement that 'customer habits are changing' etc

[Sherwoodforest]

Possibly scratch bakeries will move over to bake off, not sure if you'd need skilled bakers for bake off, but I suppose it comes down to cost effectiveness of it.

[Hammer10]

Our bakery is going from strength to strength takings up 15% year on year shows if you have the right people you can deliver success.

[Paulie]

Volume of sales should be the marker, 15% increase in takings is not that big of deal considering some items have gone up way over 15%.

[Biscuit tin]

If you have any people you can deliver success. How many staff do you have? And more importantly how many did you lose in 2020?

[penguin]

Sales and takings going up mean little if a restructure hits, we had one of the most profitable hot chicken counters in the country according to our S.M but off it went along with all our other counters come a restructure.

[londoner83]

Takings up 15% isn't that great when you consider inflation in general is currently running at around 11% and on some food stuffs its actually much higher than 15%.

It's the actual margin Tesco makes that will ultimately decide if Bakeries remain a instore feature. With the need in many stores to invest in equipment, plus the high labour intensity of baking product from scratch I'd be surprised if our bakeries are anywhere close to generating high profit levels.

Have no idea what the new year will bring but suspect any areas instore  delivering low margins will be at risk, especially when national statistics show demand for baked loaves is falling as the public turn to pastries and artisan loaves.

[Monkeyman999]

Bakerys won't be going, bakerys before the restructuring  were losing roughly £60 million per year, through over hours, bad equipment costing thousands in energy prices and complicated processes,

After they have been simplified ingredients and hours reduced they now make £5 profit per year, our store has had two new revo ovens and was the first store in the country with the new mono deck ovens which cost £250k each, they significantly lower the energy usage, tesco have ordered 200+ of these ovens for the sctrath stores still in operation. They wouldn't be putting so much investment into a department if they were culling it.

Fresh bread and rolls are a point of difference to the cheaper retailers it's in tesco interest to still offer this Especially now they are a profitable operating instead of a money pit as before.

Losing 60 million a year ?? Made up figures? Our bakery was top of region highly profitable totally destroyed by redundancies now makes half the amount of money but has 9 packers absolute lunacy, they want bake off big stores and none in smaller why else no new bakers employed or training

[Rubydubydoo]

I see they are trialing bakery apprenticeships. That has to be a good sign.

[NeglectedBaker]

You see not very far evidently

[londoner83]

It's business as usual until any announcement is made......

[NightAndDay]

I see they are trialing bakery apprenticeships. That has to be a good sign.

Back under the George Osbourne days, as part of the tory strategy to tackle high levels of NEETs and youth unemployment, they made the apprenticeship national minimum wage (now £5-£5.50 an hour I believe) and at the same time the government would reward employers who would take on apprentices.

This was another example of tory short termism, what resulted was every employer and their dog making redundant or firing long term established staff and replacing them with "apprentices"  paying around £2.50 an  hour and getting a few grand from the government after doing so. Morrisons, Boots, everyone was at it, advertising roles such as apprentice customer assistant or apprentice trolley boy, they get some Mickey mouse level 2 or 3 NVQ or B.tech in customer service or pushing trolleys at the end of it.

It wasn't too long before the government cottoned on and made the rate the same as the 16/17 year old minimum wage with none of the subsidies.

[Monkeyman999]

 

I see they are trialing bakery apprenticeships. That has to be a good sign

😆 5 people paid by Scottish bakeries not Tesco 😂

[chris9997]

There has been a lot written about management changes, any news on night shifts.

[Beanny]

Nights more likely to be told tomorrow morning if anything happening!

[Happyshopper]

Any news what's happening with Express format ? Or is it just metro ,superstore and extra stores affect this time ?

[Tesco gimp]

There has been a lot written about management changes, any news on night shifts.

Nights won't be informed for another two weeks due to timescales etc if your store is losing nights it will be after Easter weekend they leave