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Jobs to go at Tesco as Jack’s shuts down and food counters scrapped

Emma Lunn
Written By:
Emma Lunn
Posted:
Updated:
01/02/2022

The supermarket giant has announced it will close meat, fish and deli counters in 317 stores across the UK and close seven of its Jack’s discount chain stores.

Tesco said the changes were necessary to ensure it remains ‘focused and competitive in a fast-changing market’.

Tesco launched Jack’s, named after Tesco founder Jack Cohen, in 2018. The aim was to compete with budget supermarkets Lidl and Aldi. Under the changes, the Jack’s brand will be scrapped, with seven branches closed and the other six Jack’s stores converted to Tesco stores.

In the six stores to be converted to Tesco, Jack’s employees will be automatically offered in-store roles, while Tesco will also be recruiting additional workers for these stores.

Jack’s branded products will still be available to independent convenience stores supplied by Booker.

In total, 130 jobs in the seven closing stores and head office will be affected by the changes. Tesco said it was aiming to find alternative roles for affected workers.

Jason Tarry, Tesco UK and ROI CEO, said: “We have learnt a huge amount from Jack’s and this has helped Tesco become more competitive, more efficient and strengthened our value proposition, including through the launch of Aldi Price Match.

“In turn, this has enabled us to consistently attract new customers to Tesco from our competitors over the last two years and we know they increasingly recognise the value they can find at Tesco. With the learnings from Jack’s now applied, the time is right to focus on ensuring we continue to deliver the best possible value for customers in our core business.

“Our Jack’s brand will continue to be sold across Booker and our symbol brands, bringing great value and quality to even more customers. We want to thank our Jack’s colleagues for all they have done and taught us. Our priority is to find roles within our wider business for all the colleagues who want to stay with us.”

Tesco said that customer shopping behaviour has changed considerably over recent years which has led to a decrease in the number of customers using meat, fish and deli counters on a regular basis in some of its stores.

After reviewing the relevance of counters within its stores, meat, fish and deli counters will continue in 279 stores where there is sufficient demand, but the counters will be closed in 317 stores where there is lowest demand. Counter staff will be offered alternative roles and not made redundant.


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