Sainsbury’s Officially Opens Bakery College

The College, which is based at the Whitworth's Mill in Wellingborough, will give all Sainsbury's bakery colleagues high-quality training in the key skills of baking. Every colleague will spend five days at the College which will be open 46 weeks per year.

27 May 2010 --- Sainsbury's has officially opened its state of the art Bakery College at a ceremony hosted by Sainsbury's Regional Managing Director Anthony Hemmerdinger and three Sainsbury's bakery apprentices.

The College, which is based at the Whitworth's Mill in Wellingborough, will give all Sainsbury's bakery colleagues high-quality training in the key skills of baking. Every colleague will spend five days at the College which will be open 46 weeks per year.

The College will also help Sainsbury's 300 bakery apprentices halve the amount of time it takes for them to complete the NVQ aspect of their training, reducing it from 12 to just six months. The College will make a real difference to apprentices, giving them a head start in their quest to earn job-related qualifications.

Kim Brown, Sainsbury's Category Manager, Bakery, said: "The Bakery College will ensure that highly trained, qualified bakers will be available to work in our in store scratch bakeries. This is not only great news for Sainsbury's but also for our customers who will enjoy the improved quality of our bakery offer."

Sue Round, Sainsbury's Head of Learning & Development, said: "We are very proud to be the first UK supermarket to open a dedicated bakery college. It will enable our colleagues learn new skills which will help them deliver even better service to our customers."

"We aim for Sainsbury's to be a great place to work and this is just one of a number of initiatives Sainsbury's offers to help colleagues perform better, boost their confidence and ultimately plan for a long-term career with Sainsbury's."

Sainsbury's currently has over 1,500 bakery colleagues working in 412 in store bakeries. Of these 1,500 colleagues over 300 are bakery apprentices.