Greggs to cut around 800 jobs

Around 800 jobs are expected to be lost at Greggs following a consultation process with the group's 2,500 staff, however no stores are expected to close.

A 45-day consultation process was announced in September and the news was communicated to employees last week.

The company is still expected to have opened 20 new stores by the end of this year, predominantly in locations accessed by car. The group has more than 2,000 retail outlets throughout the country.

In a trading update in September Greggs said company-managed shop like-for-like sales improved to 76.1% of 2019 level in the four weeks to 26 September. The group experienced disruption with Covid outbreaks at its distribution centre in Leeds and a manufacturing centre in Newcastle and the group acknowledged the trading outlook was "uncertain", with increasing risks of supply chain interruption and further restrictions on customer activities out of the home.

At the time the company said it was taking steps "to ensure that our employment costs reflect the estimated level of demand from November onwards. With business activity levels remaining below normal for the foreseeable future we must change the way we work to be as productive and flexible as we can in order to protect as many jobs as possible for the long term… Our aim is to minimise the risk of job losses by negotiating reduced hours in our shops and we will update on the outcome of the consultation when concluded".