Food 4 Less Supermarkets Will Lay Off 300 Workers

Food 4 Less Supermarkets, parent company of the Alpha Beta and Viva grocery chains, said it will begin laying off about 300 people Friday in an effort to streamline its operations in Southern California.

The idling of mostly part-time workers comes just five months after the company acquired 142 Alpha Beta stores in a $251-million deal. The cuts will affect courtesy clerks and workers in the bakery and deli sections, said Adrienne Gaines, a spokeswoman for the company, which has more than 12,000 employees in Southern California.

There were also an unspecified number of layoffs of full-time workers recently at the company’s administrative and statewide warehouse and distribution facilities, she said, adding that “the cut is across the board.”

“This has been an extremely difficult decision for the company to make given the time of the year and given the current economic situation that exists out there,” she said.

Under a collective bargaining agreement with the United Food Commercial Workers Union, Food 4 Less is not required to give a 60-day notice to employees, she said.

Despite the layoffs, Gaines said the company would continue with plans to spruce up some of its older stores and to open 10 new supermarkets in Southern California next year, including an Alpha Beta in Costa Mesa. Next week, the company plans to open a Food 4 Less warehouse store in Anaheim.

Gaines would not comment on whether the laid-off employees would be offered jobs at the new store.