SHOPPERS are disappointed after Sainsbury’s has quietly scrapped a beloved range of British desserts.

The supermarket chain has confirmed that its Patisserie Valerie cake slices are no longer available in stores.

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Responding to a shopper on social media platform X, the chain : “Unfortunately this range has been discontinued.”

Patisserie Valerie is a British café and bakery chain dating back to 1926, famous for its handcrafted cakes, pastries and continental-style desserts.

The cake slices - once sold at 400 Sainsbury's locations – promised to bring high street café luxury to supermarket shelves.

Patisserie Valerie was bought by Irish private equity firm Causeway Capital Partners in 2019 after it faced financial difficulties.

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It now runs standalone cafés and delivers cakes across the UK through its online service.

It is unclear why Sainsbury’s decided to ditch the range.

No official statement has been made by Patisserie Valerie.

It comes as Sainsbury's is rolling out major changes in stores, aimed at streamlining the shopping experience – including upgrades to its SmartShop system.

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SmartShop allows customers to scan products as they go through stores via a physical handset or app on their phone.

But now, the supermarket is trialling brand-new handsets at two locations – Richmond, London, and Kempston, Bedfordshire – that allow users to pay directly on the device by tapping their card, removing the need to queue at all.

Once payment is complete, customers can either print a receipt at a designated bay or choose to have one emailed.

Darren Sinclair, director of future stores and customer experience at Sainsbury's, said the trial was launched in response to customer feedback, with many shoppers preferring to use a physical handset to save phone battery.

Sinclair told The Grocer: "I think about this as trying to reduce friction, improve payment and simplify the shopping journey, as well as the future potential space."

He added that wider adoption of SmartShop helps the supermarket better understand customer behaviour.

Sinclair said: "From a heatmapping perspective we can see how people shop.

"We don't see the physical customer, just see the heat, so we can see which ends are looked at, which screens are looked at and the flow around the store."

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