The supermarket will close its remaining cafés, hot food counters, patisserie, and pizza counters, and reduce senior management roles by an estimated 20%, Reuters reported.
Sainsbury’s CEO Simon Roberts said: “We are facing into a particularly challenging cost environment which means we have had to make tough choices about where we can afford to invest and where we need to do things differently to make our business more efficient and effective.
“The decisions we are announcing today are essential to ensure we continue to drive forward our momentum but have also meant some difficult choices impacting our dedicated colleagues in a number of parts of our business.
“We’ll be doing everything we can to support anyone impacted by today’s announcements.”
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This move comes despite Sainsbury’s previous commitment to offering inflation-busting pay rises to store workers, a decision made just a fortnight prior.
Roberts had previously warned that the £40bn in tax increases from October’s budget would lead to higher prices for customers, with the supermarket unable to absorb the additional costs: “We do not have the capacity to absorb a barrage of costs,” he said.
The supermarket’s latest round of cuts and closures is part of its broader £1bn cost-saving plan.
Retailers across the sector have raised concerns about the impact of forthcoming national insurance hikes, which are expected to affect the entire industry with a multibillion-pound cost.
Last week Next CEO Lord Wolfson warned the upcoming tax changes in April will make it harder for individuals to “enter the workforce”.
Meanwhile New Look revealed it would be ramping its store closure programme ahead of the looming tax increases.
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