Sainsbury's: Patisserie, hot food, and pizza counter services cut as firm axes food counters and bakeries

Sainsbury’s first announced it was closing its remaining patisserie, hot food, and pizza counters in January as part of a major update. 

Though no specific timeline was given at the time, a more concrete timeframe has been unveiled as part of the supermarket’s latest financial results.

The news comes shortly after the closure of 61 in-store cafés on April 11, which the supermarket said were no longer being used regularly by customers.

The wider restructuring also includes cuts to head office roles, with around 20 per cent of senior management positions set to go.

Altogether, the closures of cafés and service counters are expected to result in the loss of around 3,000 jobs - about 2 per cent of Sainsbury’s 148,000-strong workforce.

The company says the changes are part of its strategy to “simplify the business” in response to a “particularly challenging cost environment".

When will Sainsbury’s patisserie, hot food, and pizza counters close?

Sainsbury’s confirmed it will permanently close its remaining patisserie, hot food, and pizza counters by “early summer”.

To replace the affected services, Sainsbury’s will relocate the most popular items from the patisserie, hot food, and pizza counters to its main aisles.

It also plans to launch new “On the Go” hubs with “flexiserve hot food offerings” from autumn 2025.

Are Sainsbury’s bakeries changing?

In a low-key update as part of the firm’s financial results, Sainsbury’s quietly revealed it is phasing out its scratch bakeries in favour of a "bake-off" model.

In bakery terms, “bake-off” refers to a process where products are partially prepared off-site - often frozen or par-baked - and then finished in-store.

This is a shift from the scratch bakery model, where items like bread and pastries are made from raw ingredients and baked fresh on the premises each day.

Sainsbury’s says the change will drive “improvements in quality, value and availability throughout the day”, but the move may impact the freshness and variety that shoppers associate with “baked in store” goods.

Bake-off systems typically reduce the need for skilled bakers and can result in more uniform products, but may lack the artisanal freshness of scratch-made items.