Morrisons cafe closure update as supermarket confirms popular deal won’t be axed in huge ‘shake-up’

MORRISONS has confirmed that a popular deal will not be axed, following the announcement of mass cafe and store closures.

On Monday, the beloved supermarket announced plans to close 52 cafes and 17 small stores across the country in a bid to cut costs.

This led to fears that its Kids Eat Free and Free Fruit initiatives could also be scrapped, but Morrisons has now confirmed that this will not be the case.

A spokesperson told The Sun: “The Kids Eat Free offer in partnership with Birds Eye remains as does the free fruit for kids.”

At all Morrisons cafes, children under the age of 16 can get a free kids meal, if their parent of guardian purchases an adult meal priced at £4.50 or over.

Children are entitled to one free meal per adult meal purchased, and the meals include a piece of fruit and a bottle of juice or water.

The supermarket also hands out free fruit to children within its stores, that is at risk of not being sold before its best before date.

The offer is available every day, and aims to reduce food waste, whilst helping kids to reach their five a day.

Mass Closures

As well as the 52 cafes and 17 Morrisons Daily stores that will be shut down, a total of 18 Market Kitchens, 13 florists, 35 meat counters, 35 fish counters and four pharmacies will also close their doors over the next few months.

Not only will this disappoint many customers, it also means that 365 workers are at risk of redundancy.

Rami Baitiéh, chief executive of Morrisons revealed that the closures, announced today, are to “reinvigorate” the company, and allow money to be invested in other areas.

He added: “In most locations the Morrisons Café has a bright future, but a minority have specific local challenges and in those locations, regrettably, closure and re-allocation of the space is the only sensible option.

“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 which are simply uneconomic.

“In some stores where we are closing counters or Cafés, we plan to work with third parties to provide a relevant specialist offer.

“Although these changes are relatively small in the context of the overall scale of the Morrisons business, we do not take lightly the disruption and uncertainty they will cause to some of our colleagues.

“We will of course take particular care to look after all of them well through the coming changes.”