Greggs tries to protect bacon rolls from Brexit

NORTH East food favourite Greggs said it is preparing for the potential impact of the UK’s exit from the EU by stockpiling key ingredients and equipment, such as bacon and tuna.

Chief executive Roger Whiteside said yesterday that Newcastle-based firm is renting space at various places in the UK which would be used throughout this month to build up stocks in the event of border delays after October 31.

The company has also brought forward the purchase of several distribution lorries from European manufacturers.

Meanwhile, contingency plans to replace or omit some ingredients, like salads, from recipes are also being compiled.

Mr Whiteside said: “You can’t build a stock of short life things, like salad, but we do bring things across that have a longer life, such as bacon, and another one is processed tuna which comes across the border.

“Bacon and tuna are the two best examples of ingredients. We’ve rented the space to be able to stock them and we will be building stocks in October. I think ‘stockpiling’ is exaggerated – we’re not able to bring months’ worths of it in.

“We’re also looking at things like ‘what would we do if there’s no lettuce?’ as a contingency but that’s worse case scenario – we don’t anticipate problems with it.”

In a trading update yesterday Greggs – which now has 2,009 stores following a landmark 2,000th opening at South Shields in August – said it expected fewer shop openings by the end of the year than previously forecast. It now expects to have 90 net openings, after taking closures into account, by the end of the year, down from its previous forecast of 100.

Greggs said like-for-like sales for the year so far increased by 9.4% as it was boosted by its new autumn offers and menu, which include chipotle chilli steak and hot peri peri chicken baguette, spicy chicken and pepperoni bakes and the pumpkin spice latte.

Mr Whiteside had previously said Greggs was working on vegan versions of more of its range, to capitalise on the success of vegan sausage rolls.

No products are ready to be revealed yet, he said, adding: “We hope we might get something out for Veganuary but can’t make any promises because we won’t compromise on quality just to make that date.”