Greggs: Sausage roll-co breathe sigh of relief with ‘no plans’ to raise prices in 2024

Greggs has confirmed there are no plans to raise prices for the rest of the year, as London sausage roll-loving commuters breathe a sigh of relief.

Chief executive Roisin Currie confirmed the news this morning are previous price increases of 5p for products were driven by wage increases, she said.

The bakery boss added that Greggs had no less inflationary pressures at the moment, while she emphasised the importance of value in the current market.

This comes a day after fast-food behemoth McDonald’s posted its yearly results on Monday and reported a one per cent decline in global sales – the first since 2020.

This was partly on the back of waning consumer demand after price hikes for popular goods like the Big Mac, but Greggs has benefited from the return of commuters especially in big cities.

The average price of a Big Mac meal in the UK rose from £4.49 in 2018 to £7.89 in 2024, a rise of around 75 per cent.

“Consumers have more confidence and they have more disposable income… [but they] are really savvy [post-pandemic] and they’re shopping around for value,” Currie said. Consumer confidence hit its highest level in three years in July.

Extension of trading hours

Greggs will expand its offering to more retail parks, travel locations and roadsides, it said in a trading update today, as well as extending its hours in some locations to make the most of evening trade.

“We believe that in the long-term [evening trade] is a really profitable part of the business,” Greggs’ chief executive said. “All new shops will have evening offering available.”

Shops will extend their hours in areas with high footfall at or near closing time.

Delivery, too, is an “absolutely critical” element of Greggs’ offering in the evening, Currie said.

The budget bakery will also expand its offering of over-ice drinks.

Greggs delivered an impressive set of results this morning, with total sales for the 26 weeks to June 29 at £960m, up by nearly 14 per cent from £844m last year.

The firm credited the boost in numbers to a partnership with Uber Eats and the roll-out of its evening trade plan.

Post-4pm sales grew “more strongly than the average like-for-like rate”, Greggs said.

“Over the long term we believe that the evolution of our menu and the extent of our suburban shop estate offers a significant opportunity to grow our share of both the walk-in and delivery evening markets,” it said.