Supermarket Tesco is to revamp its bakery departments across the whole of the UK in July, with new signage, range and layout. The changes will allow the supermarket to reorganise its offer, senior bakery buyer Andy Brocklehurst told British Baker.

The bakery areas of all 1,000-plus Tesco stores, including the Tesco Express convenience stores, will be overhauled during “as short a period as possible” in July, he said. Full details of the project are being kept under wraps, but the changes will include an improvement in the appearance of in-store bakeries and the launch of new in-store bakery ranges.

In the rest of the bakery department, a “pleasant shopping environment” will be created, where it will be “easier for customers to look at products without being rushed or harried”. Mr Brocklehurst said the changes will allow Tesco to review its range. More space will be dedicated to wholemeal and seeded breads, but products will still be grouped by eating occasion, he said.

New signage will be used throughout the fixture, but the colour palette for it has yet to be finalised, Mr Brocklehurst said. The aisle structure will be retained, but the new design for the department will include less traditional shelving, as Tesco makes way for its new wheel-in stacks for plant bread.

Tesco has now rolled this solution for plant bread to 400 of its supermarket stores, and plans to have it in all 700 of its supermarket-sized stores by the end of September. Under the system, plant bakery suppliers all use uniform 10-loaf crates, which go straight onto Tesco’s shop floor on delivery, making it easier to replenish the fixture.

The changes, “will be noticeable to customers, but they won’t find it alien or alienating”, Mr Brocklehurst summarised.