Greggs
 |
|
| Public (: ) | |
| Industry | Food (Bakery Group) |
| Founded | 1939 |
| Founder | John Gregg |
| Headquarters | Jesmond, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom |
|
Number of locations
|
1,764 (2017) |
|
Key people
|
Ian Durant (Group Chairman) Roger Whiteside (Chief Executive) |
| Products | Sandwiches, pies and pastries; baked goods |
| Revenue | £894.2 million (2016) |
| £80.3 million (2016) | |
| £62.3 million (2016) | |
|
Number of employees
|
20,581 (2016) |
| Website | www |
Greggs plc (: ) is the largest bakery chain in the United Kingdom. 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 , 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 1994. In 2017 the chain had 1,764 outlets, including 143 franchised outlets. The company opened 145 new shops in 2016 and closed 79 shops, as well as completing 208 store refits.
Greggs was founded by John Gregg as a Tyneside bakery in 1939. It opened its first shop in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne in 1951. 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 Price's (Manchester) in 1976.
In May 1994, the company acquired the Bakers Oven chain of bakers' shops from Allied Bakeries. 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. 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. In 2011, the company opened its 1,500th shop in York. In 2012, the company began selling frozen pasties through supermarket chain Iceland. In January 2013, Greggs replaced its CEO Ken McMeikan with Punch Taverns CEO Roger Whiteside. McMeikan left the firm for Brake Bros.
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Wikipedia