Morrisons to close 52 cafes and axe 365 jobs in huge shake-up

Morrisons, the supermarket behemoth, has placed 365 jobs in jeopardy as it unveils plans to shutter over 50 of its cafes.

The chain, headquartered in Yorkshire, announced that 52 of its cafes, 17 convenience stores and a multitude of meat and fish counters within its stores are earmarked for closure, as reported by City AM.

The company stated that these closures form part of a comprehensive review of the business. In addition to the cafes and convenience stores, 13 florists, 35 meat counters, 35 fish counters, four pharmacies and all 18 Market Kitchens are set to be closed.

As reported by City AM at the end of January, the Yorkshire-based chain posted revenues of £15.2bn for the year ending 27 October 2024, an increase from £14.7bn.

The group's like-for-like sales also saw a rise from 1.8 per cent to 4.1 per cent.

Morrisons CEO Rami Baitiéh commented: "The changes we are announcing today are a necessary part of our plans to renew and reinvigorate Morrisons and enable us to focus our investment into the areas that customers really value and that can play a full part in our growth."

He added: "Morrisons Cafés are rightly famous for their great quality well-priced food, their place in the local community and their appealing mix of traditional favourites alongside exciting new dishes."

"In most locations the Morrisons Café has a bright future, but a minority have specific local challenges and in those locations, regrettably, closure and re-allocation of the space is the only sensible option."

"Market Street is a beacon of differentiation for Morrisons and we remain committed to it."

"But as we modernise we are making some necessary changes to the areas of the model which are simply uneconomic. In some stores where we are closing counters or Cafés, we plan to work with third parties to provide a relevant specialist offer."

"Although these changes are relatively small in the context of the overall scale of the Morrisons business, we do not take lightly the disruption and uncertainty they will cause to some of our colleagues."

"We will of course take particular care to look after all of them well through the coming changes."

This move comes on the heels of a report by City AM in January that Sainsbury's was planning to eliminate more than 3,000 roles as it prepares to shut down all its remaining in-store cafes.

The major restructuring will reduce its current workforce, which stands at 148,000, by two per cent.

The move will also render about 20 per cent of senior management roles at Sainsbury's redundant.

This initiative is part of the supermarket giant's plans to concentrate on fewer, larger roles and to streamline its head office and management teams.