British grocery chain Tesco has announced that it will offload its Euphorium bakery chain to refocus on core supermarket business.
The move is in line with a strategy initiated by its chief executive Dave Lewis to revive the supermarket’s fortunes as reported by the BBC.
It follows Tesco’s sale of quite a few of its business that include Dobbies Garden Centres, Giraffe, its restaurant chain and coffee shops Harris + Hoole.
European coffee shop chain Soho Coffee will acquire Euphorium's high street stores and Islington factory while the in-store Euphorium's bakeries will be run by Tesco.
A Tesco spokesperson has been quoted by the publication as saying: "We know how important a great bakery offer is to our customers, and this agreement will mean we can continue to serve shoppers with great quality Tesco bakery products."
Soho Coffee will purchase four stores of the upmarket bakery along with Euphorium’s factory in Islington as reported by IBTimes.
Tesco will get back ownership of 57-in-store bakeries that were previously operated by Euphorium.
According to Tesco, it will be giving its bakery staff the option of transferring to the supermarket.
The company’s Weybridge factory will be acquired by Leicestershire-based food manufacturer Samworth Brothers which has also been its supplying partner.
However, financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
The first Euphorium bakery came up in 1999 in Islington, London. In 2012, Euphorium and Tesco forged together a partnership, The Grocer reported.
In April last year, Tesco went on to completely acquire the bakery chain.
