Greggs cooking up vegan versions of all its most popular products
Greggs is working on plans for vegan versions of all of its best selling products following the success of the bakery’s vegan sausage rolls, its chief executive has announced.
“We are plugging away at seeing if we can come up with a vegan version of all our top-selling lines. Obviously people want a vegan option,” Roger Whiteside told LBC this morning in an interview to mark the launch of the bakery’s 2,000th store.
“If we can succeed in doing that and produce something that tastes just as good as the meat version, then that will sell very successfully. That’s what’s been shown with the vegan sausage roll.”
Read more: On a roll: Greggs boosts sales and profits
Greggs, the largest bakery chain in the UK, launched its popular vegan sausage roll in January. The success of the product has helped Greggs sales rise 14 per cent during the first half of the year.
In results released last month, the company said first-half trading had been “exceptionally strong,” building on “the successful end to 2018, and helped by the popularity of the new vegan-friendly sausage roll”.
The company’s pre-tax profits rose to £36.7m, up from £24.1m in the same period last year.
Greggs shares have risen over 96 per cent over the past year, and were trading at 2,006p following this morning’s announcement – an increase of just over one per cent on yesterday’s close.