Jump to content

Greggs

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 82.1.231.197 (talk) at 14:59, 1 May 2015. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

For the New Zealand coffee company, see Gregg's (New Zealand).

Greggs plc
Company typePublic (LSE: GRG)
IndustryFood (Bakery Group)
Founded1939
HeadquartersJesmond, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
Key people
Ian Durant
(Group Chairman)
Roger Whiteside
(Chief Executive)
ProductsSandwiches, pies and pastries; baked goods
Revenue£804.0 million (2014)[1]
£58.1 million (2014)[1]
£37.6 million (2014)[1]
Number of employees
19,500 (2014)[1]
Websitewww.greggs.co.uk
Greggs, Carmarthen, during snowfall
Greggs, Waterlooville
The historic shop front of a Greggs in Brecon

Greggs plc (LSE: GRG) is the largest bakery chain in the United Kingdom, with 1,671 outlets.[2] It specialises in savoury products such as pasties, 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. Originally 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.

History

Greggs was founded by John Gregg as a Tyneside bakery in 1939.[3] It opened its first shop in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne in 1951.[4]

When John 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 Manchester-based Price's in 1976.[5]

In May 1994, the company acquired the Bakers Oven chain of bakers' shops from Allied Bakeries.[5] In August 1999, Greggs rebranded its 100 Braggs bakers shops as Greggs of the Midlands, and its Leeds-based Thurston chain as Greggs of Yorkshire.[6]

In March 2003, in an attempt to test the foreign market, Greggs opened a total of ten stores in Belgium; principally in Antwerp & Leuven. In December 2008, both stores closed,[6]

On 9 December 2008, Greggs announced that all of its 165 Bakers Oven branded shops would be re-branded into the Greggs brand so that all the shops could benefit from the Greggs national advertising campaign.[7] In March 2011, the company opened its 1,500th shop, in York.[2] In May 2012, the company began selling frozen pasties through the Iceland supermarket chain. In January 2013, Greggs replaced its CEO Ken McMeikan with Punch Taverns CEO Roger Whiteside. McMeikan left the firm for Brake Bros.[8]

In November 2009, when it had around 1400 stores (more than fast-food chain McDonalds), the company announced plans for a further 600.[9] In October 2013, however, in the face of declining sales. Greggs stated that they were no longer intending to increase their number of stores. 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.[10] In August 2014, an "offensive" Greggs logo was visible, as the firm fell afoul of the Google algorithm.[11]

Operations

The company has grown steadily over the years, and now has over 1,600 outlets, with many town and city centres having several stores.

As well as selling British freshly baked savouries, such as sausage rolls and Cornish pasties, local items are also available. Traditional Tyneside and, more generally, North East foods are usually available, for example pease pudding and Stotties. The available products are frequently updated and change according to the time of year. For example at Hallowe'en various themed products are available.

Greggs Moment

In September 2011, Greggs opened its first Greggs Moment, a 104 seater coffee shop, in its home town of Newcastle. It is located on Northumberland Street.[12] This store was shortly followed by one in the nearby MetroCentre and the Hill Street Shopping Centre, Middlesbrough.

In August 2013, the company announced that this trial of entering the coffee market would be discontinued. Instead, there would be a focus on selling coffee from their existing stores.[13]

Marketing

Actress and model Milla Jovovich, a fan of the store and its pasties,[14] said in July 2002 that she would be willing to become the "face of Greggs" in a new marketing campaign if the firm approached her, though no such approach was made.[15] In October 2008, it was Jovovich's spouse, Paul W S Anderson, shares his Gosforth roots with Greggs, and introduced Jovovich to the brand.[16]

In August 2009, the face of Greggs was British comedian Paddy McGuinness.[17]

Pasty Tax

In March 2012, when George Osborne announced that he was going to ensure VAT was charged on pasties, and other baked foods (as it is on other hot takeaway food). Greggs participated in a campaign to reverse this decision, which became known as the "pasty tax" or "Pasty Gate".[18]

In May 2012, changes were announced to the proposals, which permitted zero rating, provided the food simply retained the heat from baking while left to cool.[19] However, this led to some customers complaining about being served lukewarm food. In February 2013, Greggs started trialling keeping their food hot, which therefore meant having to charge VAT.[20]

Greggs: More Than Meats the Pie

An eight part documentary series, called Greggs: More Than Meats The Pie,[21] which goes behind the scenes of the bakery and all its areas, premiered on 29 April 2013, on Sky1 & Sky1 HD. The first episode achieved in excess of over 740,000 viewers with all ratings across Sky1, Sky1+1 and Sky2 factored in.[22] Sky revealed the documentary programme was Sky1's number one original show in April with a final total of 1.27 million viewers.[23] The second episode aired on 6 May 2013, and achieved over 681,000 viewers.

The first episode featured several Greggs shops around the United Kingdom getting refitted and refurbished, including the store in Low Fell. The second episode featured female staff at Low Fell doing the naked calendar shoot for Children in Need, as well as several shop workers doing a sponsored sea dip for the charity. Gavin Hetherington, a successful author who has worked with the company since July 2010, was featured in a cameo appearance while also doing the sea dip.[24]

Episode 3 showed how the company coped in provisioning the 2012 Summer Olympics, which were held in London, and various other incidents. These includes computer failures, a visit from the Women's Institute and a doughnut dilemma.[25]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Annual Report 2014" (PDF). Greggs. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  2. ^ a b "GREGGS plc INTERIM MANAGEMENT STATEMENT" (PDF). Greggs plc. 11 May 2011. Retrieved 24 July 2011.
  3. ^ "Takeaway market holds key to Greggs' future". The Northern Echo. 18 November 2003. Retrieved 16 February 2010.
  4. ^ "Earning a crust; How famous bakery rose from pushbike yeast deliveries Remember When a blast from the past. (News)". Entrepreneur.com. 19 March 2008. Retrieved 16 February 2010.
  5. ^ a b "history". Greggs. Retrieved 16 February 2010.[dead link]
  6. ^ a b "Greggs". Ukbusinesspark.co.uk. Retrieved 16 February 2010.
  7. ^ "Chief Executive's Review and Trading Update". Greggs plc. 9 December 2008. Retrieved 10 March 2009.
  8. ^ Nathalie Thomas (24 January 2013). "Greggs poaches Punch Taverns chief". Telegraph.
  9. ^ "How did Greggs conquer the High Street?". BBC News. 10 November 2009. Retrieved 10 November 2009.
  10. ^ Jennifer Rankin. "Greggs slows sales decline as it battles to win back customers". the Guardian.
  11. ^ Elena Cresci. "Why did an offensive Greggs logo show up in Google's web search?". the Guardian.
  12. ^ Karen Dent (29 September 2011). "Greggs open first coffee shop in Newcastle". nechronicle.
  13. ^ "BBC News - Greggs shares hit after sales and profits fall". BBC News.
  14. ^ "Milla munches Geordie fare". BBC News. 9 July 2002. Retrieved 16 April 2007.
  15. ^ "Slav to love". Daily Telegraph. 8 April 2007. Retrieved 16 April 2007.
  16. ^ "Milla Jovovich and hubby's baby hopes". Sunday Sun. 5 October 2008. Retrieved 16 February 2010.
  17. ^ Paddy McGuinness campaign helps Greggs the baker Daily Mirror, 12 August 2009
  18. ^ VAT Notice 701/14 Catering and take-away food. HM Revenue & Customs. October 2011.
  19. ^ Robinson, Martin. "Pasty tax U-turn ends threat of 50p VAT increase as long as you eat at Greggs or don't mind a lukewarm one". Dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  20. ^ Webb, Sam (18 February 2013). "The return of the pasty tax: Greggs to put VAT on its snacks after complaints about food being cooled down to avoid levy". Dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  21. ^ "Greggs TV series airs in April". bakeryinfo.co.uk.
  22. ^ "BARB". barb.co.uk.
  23. ^ "'Revolution', 'Arrow' revealed as Sky's most-watched shows in April". Digital Spy.
  24. ^ "Greggs on Twitter". Twitter.
  25. ^ "Greggs: More Than Meats the Pie". RadioTimes.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Greggs&oldid=660258035"