Greggs is continuing with plans to open a bakery chain in every town in Britain which does not have a branch yet by opening 160 new branches this year.
The bakery chain, which had 2,473 outlets by the end of last year, has announced further expansion plans to open up to 160 stores in 2024.
With the new store openings this would take the total number of Greggs bakeries in Britain to more than 2,600.
The exact locations of the new outlets is not yet known by the brand, which is synonyms with sausage rolls, but said they plan to give customers more convenient access to its stories.
The chain will continue to target retail parks, industrial estates and roadside locations in their expansion plans.
Greggs will also continue to roll out evening opening hours in specific locations – which are available in 1,200 shops currently.
Roisin Currie, chief executive of Greggs said: ‘We enter 2024 with plans to continue to invest in our shops and expand supply chain capacity.’
Ms Currie added there are ‘no plans currently’ to increase their prices.
In January last year, the price of their sausage roll shot up from £1.10 to £1.15 after it was priced just £1 at the start of 2022.
In relation to their prices update, Greggs said there are expectations for a ‘more stable cost base in the coming year’ as inflation begins to ease.
However, Ms Currie added that it would be ‘a long time before we see deflation’, which would allow the group to start reducing prices as retailers are among those facing higher costs due to increases in the national living wage.
In the fourth quarter of 2023, the sausage roll firm posted a 9.7 per cent rise in like-for-like sales and an overall growth of 13.7 per cent for the whole of last year.
These results saw the shares rise by almost 10 per cent in Wednesday’s early trading.
Greggs also outlined strong support for their vegan range of products as the previously announced the return of their popular £2 Vegan Steak Bake earlier this month in time for veganuary.
First launched in January 2020, the Vegan Steak Bake now returns following pleas from fans across social media who have been missing the bake since it came off the menu over two years ago.
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Robert Johnson is a UK-based business writer specializing in finance and entrepreneurship. With an eye for market trends and a keen interest in the corporate world, he offers readers valuable insights into business developments.
