Greggs

































































Greggs plc
Type
Public
Traded as
LSE: GRG
Industry
Food (Bakery Group)
Founded 1939; 80 years ago (1939)
Founder John Gregg
Headquarters
Jesmond, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
Key people
Ian Durant
(Group Chairman)
Roger Whiteside
(Chief Executive)
Products Sandwiches, pies and pastries; baked goods
Revenue
£960.0 million (2017)[1]
Operating income

£82.2 million (2017)[1]
Net income

£56.9 million (2017)[1]
Number of employees
22,000 (2018)[2]
Website www.greggs.co.uk



Greggs, Carmarthen, during snowfall (2009)




Greggs, Waterlooville (2008)




Historic shop front, Greggs, Brecon (2005)


Greggs plc (LSE: GRG) is the largest bakery chain in the United Kingdom. It specialises in savoury products such as bakes, sausage rolls and sandwiches and sweet items including doughnuts and vanilla slices. It is headquartered in Newcastle upon Tyne. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.


The first Greggs was opened in 1951. Growing regionally from its North East base, Greggs began to acquire other regional bakery chains across the rest of the country from the 1970s onwards. By the 1990s, it was the largest bakery chain in the country after acquiring its major rival, Bakers Oven, in May 1994. In 2017, the chain had 1,764 outlets, including 143 franchised outlets.[3]


The company opened 145 new shops in 2016 and closed 79 shops, as well as completing 208 store refits.[3]




Contents






  • 1 History


  • 2 Operations


    • 2.1 Greggs Moment


    • 2.2 Delivery service


    • 2.3 Greggs Drive Thru




  • 3 Products


    • 3.1 Sausage roll


    • 3.2 Balanced Choice pasties


    • 3.3 Seasonal ranges


    • 3.4 Sandwiches


    • 3.5 Breakfast menu


    • 3.6 Soup


    • 3.7 Pasties/Bakes




  • 4 Discontinued products


    • 4.1 Macaroni pie


    • 4.2 Bread




  • 5 Marketing


    • 5.1 Greggs Rewards


    • 5.2 Pasty tax


    • 5.3 Greggs: More Than Meats the Pie




  • 6 References


  • 7 External links





History


Greggs was founded by John Gregg as a Tyneside bakery in 1939.[4] It opened its first shop in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne in 1951.[5] When Gregg died in 1964, the bakery was taken over by his son, Ian, assisted by his brother, Colin. Major expansion began soon after, including the acquisitions of other bakeries such as Glasgow-based Rutherglen in 1972, Leeds-based Thurston's in 1974, Broomfields the Bakers, London, Bowketts the Bakers in Kent, Tooks the Bakers (East Anglia) and Price's (Manchester) in 1976.[6]


In May 1994, the company acquired the Bakers Oven chain of bakers' shops from Allied Bakeries.[6] In August 1999, Greggs rebranded its one hundred Braggs bakers shops as Greggs of the Midlands, and its Leeds based Thurston chain as Greggs of Yorkshire.[7]


In December 2008, Greggs announced that all of its 165 Bakers Oven branded shops would be re branded as Greggs shops so that all of the Bakers Oven shops could benefit from the Greggs national advertising campaign.[8] In 2011, the company opened its 1,500th shop in York.[9]


In January 2013, Greggs replaced its CEO Ken McMeikan with Punch Taverns CEO Roger Whiteside. McMeikan left the firm for Brake Bros.[10] In November 2009, the company announced plans for a further 600 stores.[11]


They aimed to refit 215 stores (about 12% of their estate) by the end of the year, as well as introducing new products such as pizza.[12]


In 2013, Greggs began to transition out of the bakery market with the reasoning that it couldn't compete with supermarkets on that front. Instead, the company switched to focusing solely on the "food on the go" market after discovering that 80% of its business was with that market.[13]


Part of this was having many of its stores open earlier and close later, in order to target those going to and coming back from work,[14] expanding its breakfast menu to suit.[15] Part of this change meant discontinuing the sale of bread and scones in many of its stores.[16][17]


In August 2014, the company complained to Google when an "offensive" satirical parody of the Greggs logo was presented in search results as the actual company logo – falling afoul of imperfections in the "Google algorithm".[18] The firm's lighthearted social media response was noted as a "lesson in Twitter crisis management".[19][20]



Operations


The company has over 1,600 outlets, with many town and city centres having several stores.[3] In May 2015, the chain had 1,671 outlets, nine regional bakeries and employed 20,000 staff.[21] By March 2016, the number of outlets had grown to 1,698.[22] The company also sells some of its products – such as bakes, melts and pasties – through the supermarket chain Iceland.[23]



Greggs Moment


In September 2011, Greggs opened its first Greggs Moment, a 104 seater coffee shop, in its home town of Newcastle on Northumberland Street.[24] This store was then followed by one in the nearby MetroCentre in August 2012,[25] with five outlets in operation by February 2013.[26] In August 2013, the company announced that it would discontinue its attempt to enter the coffee market, and instead focus on selling coffee from its existing stores.[27]



Delivery service


In October 2016, Greggs announced that it would be launching a delivery service on a trial basis, with plans to implement it nationwide if the trial proved to be successful.[28] The initial trial was held in Cobalt Business Park in Newcastle, and the next trial phase encompassed the city’s other 29 Greggs stores.[29]



Greggs Drive Thru


In June 2017, Greggs opened their first drive thru, at Irlam Gateway Service Station in Salford.[30] Two further outlets have since opened in Ashby-de-la-Zouch and Blackburn.[31]



Products



Sausage roll


The company’s best selling product is the sausage roll, selling more than two million units weekly.[32] Greggs sell sausage rolls freshly baked in store individually, or in a pre baked cold pack of four for customers to heat at home.[33] Greggs launched a vegan sausage roll in January 2019, made with vegan Quorn.[34]



Balanced Choice pasties




An example of Greggs point-of-sale display


In September 2016, in response to rising obesity levels in the United Kingdom, Greggs introduced a range of sourdough pasties which are under four hundred calories. The Balanced Choice Bakes are in Greggs' healthy Balanced Choice range.[35][36]



Greggs sandwiches

An example of the sandwich display at Greggs



Seasonal ranges


Greggs regularly introduces seasonal menus which include new product lines. In 2015, they began offering chicken curry soup and peri peri chicken flatbread as part of an autumn line.[37] In May 2016, the company launched a range branded as ‘Balanced Choice’ which offers healthy food options under 400 calories.


This line offers a variety of pasta dishes, sandwiches, salads and soups and includes both meat free products and products containing meat. The range also includes healthy snacks such as yoghurt pots and pots of fruit, and light drinks such as lemonade and fruit juices.[38]


In October 2016, Greggs launched a new autumn menu featuring a line of burritos which includes a pulled beef burrito, a pulled chicken burrito and a vegetarian burrito.[39] and their autumn/winter menu introduced a range of new burritos and gluten free sweets.[40] These updates were accompanied by a ‘revamp’ of the company’s snack range, with the introduction of packets of nuts and fruits and a change to own label crisps.[41]


Following the success of their previous health conscious offerings, Greggs introduced a range of gluten free products.[41] The first of these were launched with the autumn/winter menu in 2016 and included a range of cakes, brownies and crispy rolls.[42]


Their Halloween product line includes fairy buns, cakes, biscuits, lattices and gingerbread kits.[37][43] Their Christmas menu includes bakes, rolls, soups, toasties, baguettes, biscuits, muffins, buns and mince pies.[44]



Sandwiches


Greggs produce a variety of sandwiches which are all freshly prepared and available to purchase hot or cold.[45]



Breakfast menu


Greggs offer a variety of breakfast items which are served until 11am.[46] Bacon rolls and porridge were introduced to their stores in 2010[47] alongside continental items including croissants and pain au chocolat.[48] In January 2016, the company announced plans to expand their coffee menu with the addition of flat whites and an 'improved mocha'.[49]


The company also offers a 'breakfast meal deal' where customers can purchase a breakfast roll and hot drink together for £2.10.[50]



Soup


Greggs' soups are part of the company's healthy eating menu.[51] The soups are seasonal, the different types served throughout the year including chicken curry soup, spiced beef and rice soup, and cream of tomato soup.[37][51] In Channel 4’s Tricks Of The Restaurant Trade, it was discovered that Greggs' cream of tomato soup contained much more sugar than was disclosed in its nutritional information.[52]


While a 300g portion was said to contain 5.7g of sugar, that amount of soup was found to contain 25.4g when tested: almost five times the amount declared on the package.[52] In response, Greggs said that they would "review the methodology used to determine nutritional data and would reformulate the recipe if required".[52]



Pasties/Bakes


Greggs offer a range of pasties and bakes which are available to purchase hot in-store or cold in a multi-pack to be re-heated at home.[53]



Discontinued products



Macaroni pie


Greggs previously sold a macaroni pie, which was a water crust pastry case filled with macaroni pasta and a cream cheese sauce.[54]


It was announced in June 2015 that the company would be discontinuing the pie from its Scottish menu as Greggs was looking to "refresh" the pastries they offered.[55] The news of the removal of the pie angered many customers in Scotland, and campaigns soon began calling for Greggs to keep the pie.[54]


A huge campaign started on social media with Scots pleading with Greggs to #savethepie.[56] A petition was started which gained nearly 2,000 supporters,[57] and the topic of the discontinuing of the pie was discussed in the Scottish parliament.[56]



Bread


In November 2015, Greggs decided to discontinue selling bread, with the company stating that the products were not selling as well as their sandwiches and other products.[58] The company also mentioned that bread was still being sold in a few stores and that they were now focusing on "food on the go" products as customer habits were changing.[58]



Marketing


In July 2002, actress and model Milla Jovovich, a fan of the store and its pasties,[59] said that she would be willing to become the "face of Greggs" in a new marketing campaign if the firm approached her. However, no such approach was made.[60]



Greggs Rewards


In February 2014, Greggs launched an electronic loyalty scheme app called "Greggs Rewards".[61]



Pasty tax


In March 2012, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne proposed to simplify the taxing of takeaway food. In the United Kingdom, most food intended to be cooked and eaten at home is zero rated, meaning that businesses do not have to charge their customers the standard VAT on those products.[62] Hot fast food, however, must charge 20% VAT. An exception to this rule can be made if it can be argued that a product was not intended to be served hot.


Much of Greggs food falls under this exception, with the food being left to cool on a shelf after preparation rather than being kept hot or reheated upon purchase by customers.[63]


With the pasty tax, any food besides freshly baked bread which is sold while above room temperature would be subject to the 20% VAT charge with no exception for intended serving temperature. Chairman of the company, Derek Netherton warned that such a tax would lead to "further unemployment, high street closures and reduced investment".[64] Greggs participated in a campaign to reverse this decision, which became known as the "pasty tax" or "Pasty Gate".[65]



Greggs: More Than Meats the Pie


An eight part documentary series, called Greggs: More Than Meats The Pie, which goes behind the scenes of the bakery and all its areas, was broadcast on Sky1 and Sky1 HD in April 2013.[66] Sky revealed the documentary programme's first episode was Sky1's number one original show in April, with a final total of 1.27 million viewers.[67]



References





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  59. ^ "Milla munches Geordie fare". BBC News. 9 July 2002. Retrieved 16 April 2007.


  60. ^ "Slav to love". Daily Telegraph. 8 April 2007. Retrieved 16 April 2007.


  61. ^ "Greggs launches mobile payment app with built in loyalty - Eagle Eye". Eagle Eye. 26 February 2014. Retrieved 22 November 2016.


  62. ^ "Businesses and charging VAT – GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 10 November 2016.


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  64. ^ Neate, Rupert (16 May 2012). "Greggs warns pasty tax could hit sales and profits". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 November 2016.


  65. ^ VAT Notice 701/14 Catering and take-away food. HM Revenue & Customs. October 2011.


  66. ^ Edwards, Samantha (19 April 2013). "Greggs TV series airs in April". British Baker. Retrieved 25 August 2016.


  67. ^ Jeffery, Morgan (29 May 2013). "'Revolution', 'Arrow' revealed as Sky's most-watched shows in April". Digital Spy. Retrieved 25 August 2016.




External links







  • Corporate site

  • Consumer site

  • Yahoo profile










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