Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Bakery on a vegan roll
Greggs to sell meat-free sausage snack in Tayside
BAKERY giant Greggs has performed a U-turn and announced its new vegan s a u s a ge r o l l s w i l l b e coming to stores across Tayside after all.
The Newcastle firm’s chief executive Roger Whiteside said that he had been “taken by surprise” by the level of demand for the foodstuff, launched on January 3.
Half of Greggs’ 1,800 stores were able to offer the treat, made with vegetable oil and a “bespoke” Quorn filling, from launch.
However, no stores in Tayside currently stock them, with the closest outlets selling them being at service stations in Kirkcaldy and Stirling.
Mr Whiteside, who received an OBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours list, has now confirmed all stores will start stocking them “as quickly as possible”.
He said: “With all the hype surrounding it, it sold out straight away and we have 900 shops that didn’t get it who are now screaming out for it, so we are chasing our tail getting availability running.
“We didn’t know if it would sell or not. Now we know it’s selling out and we need to get it out there.
“The priority is to get the food into shops that have already had it, and then into the other shops.
“We are pulling out all the stops to get it everywhere as quickly as possible.”
Greggs has said the vegan sausage roll has been its biggest hit in six years, with “hundreds of thousands” of the baked goods sold.
Barry Mackie-Conlon, organiser of Dundee Vegan Festival, said the popularity of the treat showed veganism was about more than a healthier diet.
He said: “Anything that makes being vegan in Dundee more convenient and affordable is always a welcome sight.
“Hopefully Dundee businesses will realise the reasons why people become vegan – it’s about ethical living not a temporary food or diet trend. As such the number of vegans in Dundee will continue to grow and be a constant consumer base that wants to support local businesses.”