UK | As Morrisons has entered the second year of its renewal programme, the business has made some changes and adjustments to its stores and operations to accelerate growth, optimise operations, and mitigate recent significant cost increases.
A wide-ranging review identified several areas where operations costs were significantly out of line with usage, volumes, or the value that customers place on them.
As a result, Morrisons has proposed changes over the next few months, specifically the closure of 52 Cafés, all 18 Market Kitchens, 17 Convenience stores, 13 florists, 35 meat counters, 35 fish counters and four pharmacies.
Although the significant majority of colleagues affected by these changes were expected to be deployed in suitable roles elsewhere in Morrisons, around 365 colleagues are at risk of redundancy.
“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,” said Rami Baitiéh, Chief Executive of Morrisons.
"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 closure and re-allocation of the space were the only sensible options.
“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 that are simply uneconomical. In some stores where we are closing counters or Cafés, we plan to work with third parties to provide a relevant specialist offer."
Baitiéh added that although these changes were relatively small in the context of the overall scale of the Morrisons business, they did not take lightly the disruption and uncertainty they would cause to some of its colleagues.
“We will, of course, take particular care to look after all of them well through the coming changes.”
