Tesco has said over 1,800 jobs are at risk of redundancy as it makes wholesale changes to its bakeries.

As of May this year, the supermarket will be putting 1,816 bakery colleagues at risk of redundancy as the store reduces the amount of products that are freshly baked on-site.

Tesco claim that alternative roles will be available for the members of staff that wish to stay with the company.

A shift in customer taste and preferences were listed as the reason behind the move, stating how consumers are buying fewer traditional loaves of bread and are increasingly opting for wraps, bagels and flatbreads.

58 stores will have their bakeries converted, meaning products will be supplied pre-prepared and will only receive the finishing touches in-store. 201 sites will still produce some products from scratch while a further 257 sites will remain as they are.

Jason Tarry, UK & ROI CEO, said: “We need to adapt to changing customer demand and tastes for bakery products so that we continue to offer customers a market-leading bakery range in store. We know this will be very difficult for colleagues who are impacted, and our priority is to support them through this process. We hope that many will choose to stay with us in alternative roles.”