Sainsbury’s has begun its rollout of its “dining destination” concept, in partnership with food giant Boparan Restaurant Group.
Following a successful trial of the Big 4 grocer’s Restaurant Hub concept at its Selly Oak Store last year, a nationwide rollout has started with a second opening at Sainsbury’s Sydenham store, South East London.
At the South East London superstore, customers can find a series of high street restaurant franchises, including Caffè Carluccio’s, Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Slim Chickens and Ed’s Easy Diner.
As a result, a total of 30 stores will be transformed into these dining destinations over the next year.
The supermarket giant also hopes to roll out to 150 stores over the next three to four years, with its existing partnership with Starbucks also being expanded.
However, earlier this year, Sainsbury’s came under fire for putting around 2,000 jobs at risk when it decided to launch Restaurant Hub nationwide, as 200 of its in-store cafe’s as well as many of its food counters would have to close in favour of the dine-in area.
At the time, CEO Simon Roberts said he was ” absolutely committed” to supporting colleagues “during this uncertain time.”
“Of course, we understand this is very unsettling for our colleagues, but we must keep adapting our business to make sure we are offering customers the best possible food and drink at affordable prices,” he said.
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It does leave an awful lot of stores with no restaurant facilities for a long time.
You would have thought that the lack of provision of even a cup of tea and a cake would be sufficient to push some customers elsewhere.