Sainsbury’s stops making fresh bread in store

Sainsbury’s has admitted to the Real Bread Campaign that it no longer makes any bread fresh from scratch in any of its 1450+ stores.

Replying to a query from the Campaign, a member of the Sainsbury’s Customer Careline wrote: ‘we no longer bake individually in our instore bakeries, the breads are manufactured elsewhere’. 

Despite this, the company continues to use marketing claims that state, or strongly imply, that ‘bakery’ section products are freshly made in store. These include: ‘freshly made every day’, ‘freshly baked bread’, ‘freshly baked today’ and ‘oven baked bread’.

Real Bread Campaign co-ordinator Chris Young said: ‘It's sad that the UK’s second largest supermarket chain has prioritised profit over supporting skilled bakery jobs and offering freshly-made bread to its customers.’ 

He added: ‘What adds insult to injury is that, in common with some of the other chains, Sainsbury’s continues to market “bakery” section products in ways that we believe leave or lead shoppers to understand that they are freshly made in store on the day of purchase.’

Facts

Including Sainsbury’s, eight out of the UK’s 10 largest supermarket chains do not make bread in any of their stores. Some supermarket ‘in store bakery’ products aren’t even manufactured in the UK. 

Young said: ‘Even the two chains that do make some products from scratch only do so in some stores. Good luck to anyone wanting to find out which products in which stores.’

Typically, ‘bakery’ section bread (or bread-like UPF) products are manufactured off site, including being baked to stop fermentation and set the structure. They are then deep frozen and transported long distances to distribution centres and stores.  These 'bake-off' products are later rebaked – potentially up to 12 months after manufacture – for a few minutes (in what the Campaign calls loaf tanning salons) to crisp and brown the crust.

Some other ‘bakery’ section products are referred to in the industry as are 'thaw and serve', meaning just that – the finished products arrive in store frozen and are simply defrosted before being displayed for sale. 

Supermarkets generally choose not to disclose to shoppers such facts about when, where and how the products are manufactured. Instead of this important information, supermarkets often choose to use 'freshly baked in store today' type marketing to help convince shoppers to part with their money, and even to pay premium prices compared to other products in store.

Why this matters

Making products elsewhere denies people opportunities for qualifications and employment as skilled bakers in the community where people are spending their money. For our Are Supermarkets Bloomers Pants? report in 2010, Sainsbury's stated that: ‘We operate 400 bakeries where bread is made from scratch using wheat flour, water, yeast and an improver mix.’

Today that figure is zero. 

Sainsbury's has not said when it finished the process of scratch bakery closures and redundancies, which had been taking place for a number of years. The bread is not cheaper as a result. These cost savings contributed to Sainsbury's reporting a 2025 operating profit of more than £1 billion, resulting in profit after tax increasing by 76.6% from the previous year. The company paid its CEO more than £5 million, with a median pay ration of 195:1. 

Young said: 'Unsurprisingly, the process of baking and then rebaking products twice uses around twice as much energy as baking them once, adding to their carbon footprint. Rebaked products tend to stale more quickly than freshly-made ones, increasing the likelihood of food waste in the home. As the work of The Food Waste Inspector indicates, the "bake-off" system might not be doing such a great job of reducing waste in store, either.'

Supermarkets tend to charge more for 'bakery' section items than prepacked versions of them. At the same time, factors including economy of scale, and greater ability to offset smaller margins on some items, mean that supermarkets are still able to undercut local, indie bakeries that make and bake genuinely fresh Real Bread from scratch every day.

Do you think this is honest and fair to shoppers or small business owners? We don't.

What we’re doing about this

The Campaign continues to lobby for an Honest Crust Act of updated and improved composition, labelling and marketing standards. In the meantime, we call on all retailers to make the changes voluntarily, giving shoppers the chance to make better-informed choices about how they spend their money.

We also contact companies about labelling and marketing we believe to be misleading and / or factually incorrect. When this does not lead to a resolution, we may submit a complaint to the trading standards service and / or Advertising Standards Authority, as applicable. 

The Campaign also continues to promote home baking and putting Real Bread on public sector menus, as well as championing small, independent bakeries that help keep our high streets alive and more money circulating in local economies.

What people think

A survey carried out by MEL Research in October 2025 found that 71% of respondents believed many supermarket ‘baked in store’ or ‘freshly baked’ type claims are misleading. In the absence of full facts about when, where, how and with what products are manufactured, however, some people do take supermarkets’ promises at face value.

What honesty and transparency won’t do

Supermarkets displaying full ingredients lists of non-prepacked ‘bakery’ section products is not a reason to raise prices. Nor is giving fuller details about when, where and how products are manufactured; or removing misleading (by inaccuracy or omission) marketing.

In fact, if people know the full facts, some might not be so willing to pay so much, which could force supermarkets to lower prices – particularly of some supposedly ‘premium’ products. 

Many people would carry on buying the products. While that choice is not one the Campaign promotes, we support people’s right to making it. 

See also 

• Morrisons promises to correct half-baked labelling and marketing
• Freshly faked by Tesco?