STORY: Greggs on a roll thanks to vegan offering

The high street chain was bolstered this year by the launch of its vegan-friendly sausage roll and all the resulting publicity, which saw demand outstripping supply across the country.

Elsewhere, Greggs reported sales at breakfast continue to grow strongly, alongside its post-4pm pizza deal, (a pizza slice and a drink for £2).

The update adds that the quality of its sweet bakery products are “benefiting from the improved quality delivered by our investment in manufacturing centres of excellence”.

The update in a nutshell

• It’s opened 38 shops and closed 22 (1,969 shops were trading in May)
• Total sales are up 15.1% this year
• Company-managed shop like-for-like sales are up 11.1% in 2019

Greggs picked up four awards at the British Sandwich Industry Awards and was named Britain’s Favourite Sandwich Retailer by NPD Crest.

Coming up next, Greggs has just launched its summer ranges, (featuring pasta salads, fruit, cold drinks, and a new mexican bean & sweet potato vegan wrap. It plans to “increase investment in strategic initiatives that will deliver further long-term growth”.

It said “We now anticipate materially higher sales for the 2019 year as a whole than we had previously been expecting. …we expect overall cost inflation to be broadly in line with our plans for the year.”