United Kingdom turns away from bread, and supermarket chain cuts 1,200 baker jobs

The British supermarket chain Asda plans to cut 1,200 jobs in its bakery spaces due to a shift from customers to traditional bread in favor of other products such as bagels or patties. Asda, number three in the sector in the United Kingdom, specifies that these job cuts concern the bakery departments in 341 stores, according to a statement released Wednesday evening. The group has launched consultations with its staff and wants to do everything to avoid layoffs, for example by offering other positions to affected employees. Instead of baking bread in stores, the group will use a centralized site that will deliver ready-made products to supermarkets every day. This is to meet the changing demand of customers who are moving away from traditional bread, to seek more specialty breads, patties, bagels and other pancakes. The company's decision was criticized by the GMB union, saying it was bad news for consumers and employees. Asda was recently sold to brothers Moshin and Zuber Issa, ...