Tesco to shut six Harris + Hoole coffee shops - but says it wants to revamp Phil Clarke's initiative

Underperforming: Tesco has inserted the Harris + Hoole in some of its larger stores

Underperforming: Tesco has inserted the Harris + Hoole in some of its larger stores

Tesco has already started to scale back one of the key initiatives championed by chief executive Phil Clarke who was unceremoniously dumped last month.

Britain’s biggest grocer, which recently issued a profit warning after failing to turn around its troubled UK business, is to shut six underperforming Harris + Hoole coffee shops.

Tesco (up 0.55p to 248.5p) is a major investor in the chain but insists it is not dumping the initiative and new stores will be opened to replace them.

It has inserted the specialist chain in some of its larger stores to give shoppers a unique reason to shop at a Tesco rather than a competitor.

The strategy was the brain child of Clarke who staked his career on putting the high end coffee chain, restaurant group Giraffe and Euphorium bakeries into Tesco to make the supermarkets more of a destination.

 

A Tesco spokesman said: ‘Feedback from customers in stores with Harris+Hoole coffee shops has been really positive.’

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