Greggs has reported a bright uptick in sales as this year progresses, with recent menu innovation proving a hit with customers.
The food-to-go giant reported like-for-like (LFL) sales in company-managed stores had grown by 2.5% over the first 19 weeks of 2026. It noted this growth had accelerated to 3.3% in the most recent 10-week period, compared to the previous nine weeks when bad weather saw LFL growth slump to 1.6%.
Launched just over a month ago, the new Chicken Roll was heralded as a standout performer having quickly established itself as a customer favourite.
During a media call this morning (12 May), Greggs CEO Roisin Currie said the chicken variant hadn’t yet usurped sausage roll as its number one selling savoury pastry but noted it was delivering very well within that category. “We’re seeing it as an additional purchase and we think it’s probably brought in some new customers,” she said.
Currie also highlighted other latest introductions such as the Tandoori Chicken Pizza and the Mango & Passion Fruit Doughnut. She admitted these were part of menu rotations designed to excite customers rather than align with its 2021 pledge to ensure 30% of its range was healthier.
However, Greggs has continued to accommodate the biggest dietary trends including protein, fibre, and smaller portions, which Currie recognises plays into people who may be on GLP-1 weight-loss drugs. Latest NPD also includes the new high-protein salad options – Chicken Caesar and Chicken, Grains & Greens – following the February launch of its matcha range that the company reports has been extremely popular. “We know they tick the boxes in terms of what customers are looking for,” added the CEO.
Total revenues at Greggs for the 19 weeks to 9 May were up by 7.5% year-on-year to £800m. This year, it has opened 41 new shops, 17 with franchise partners, while closing 21 sites (including 11 relocations). This puts its current estate at 2,759 shops, of which 2,141 are company-managed shops and 618 are franchised units – it overtook Costa’s estate last year to top our Bakery Market Report 2026 list.
The bakery chain is now targeting around 120 net openings for the full year, including its first site in an airport outside of the UK. The new shop at Tenerife South Airport is set to launch in the coming weeks, having been identified as an “excellent opportunity” to test its offering in an international travel hub.
Greggs said it had made “encouraging profit progress in the year to date, partly reflecting a weak comparator period but also good operational cost control”. Preparations for this year’s launch of its new frozen product manufacturing and logistics facility in Derby are progressing in line with plan, it said, and the internal fit-out of our its new National Distribution Centre in Kettering continues at pace towards next year’s start of operations.
While continuing to monitor the situation in the Middle East, Greggs noted there has been no change to its overall outlook for cost inflation which we expect to be around 3% on a LFL basis.
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