Sainsbury's in recruitment and training drive

Grocery chain Sainsbury’s today announced plans to recruit an additional 500 staff to serve at its food counters and cafes over the next year.

The chain is also opening six food colleges to provide training in areas such as knife and food preparation skills, product knowledge and customer service.

It expects that more than 8,500 staff a year will spend at least a day at the colleges, which are situated within existing stores in Edinburgh, Bradford, Oldbury, St Albans, Calcot near Reading and Hempstead Valley in Kent.

The colleges, which are in addition to in-store training, follow this year’s opening of a Sainsbury’s baking college at Whitworths Mill near Northampton.

The supermarket said the 500 jobs were being created in response to increased demand from customers for food from its fresh meat, fish and delicatessen counters, as well as its own store expansion plans.

Customer service director Gwyn Burr said: “We believe that the skills that our colleagues will learn and develop at the colleges will play a big part in our future success.”