Greggs wants its coffee sales to grow by at least the current rate of 20% per year, according to its chief executive.

Speaking on Wednesday (26 February), Roger Whiteside said following 20% growth last year, the business is launching a new coffee blend as part of its programme of activity for 2014.

Whiteside said: “We’ve been successful in coffee for a number of years. We saw 20% growth last year. If you remember, we did a trial with our own coffee shop, Moment, and learning from that, we thought we could make a smoother blend of coffee from the one we already had, and that’s what we’ve done. We want to continue at a rate of at least 20% growth.”

He added that the business had changed the mix of beans it uses to give its coffee a “smoother overall profile”, and that this had been preferred over competitors during blind taste tests.

As part of its five-year strategic plan, Greggs decided to stop the development of its Moment coffee shop format, and focus on growing its coffee sales in its existing Greggs-branded estate.

The new blend will be promoted in Greggs £2 breakfast meal, and will feature as part of a new £2 deal with any sweet bakery item. It will also be included in a £3 deal with Greggs’ sandwich range.