Greggs has achieved a latest milestone in its estate expansion strategy with the opening of its 2,500th shop at Sainsbury’s Bridgeway superstore in Cobham, Surrey.
The food-to-go giant launched a five-year growth plan back in 2021, with the then CEO Roger Whiteside outlining a “next target” of 3,000 locations while admitting he didn’t know how to work out what ‘peak Greggs’ is.
Whiteside retired in 2022 and was replaced by Roisin Currie, who led an accelerated shop opening programme that saw a record 145 net new outlets added to the Greggs estate last year including a landmark 500th franchise shop.
The bakery chain started this year with 2,473 sites, and has since unveiled ambitions to open between 140 and 160 new locations during 2024.
In its preliminary results posted in March, Greggs reported 19.6% growth in revenue during 2023 with Currie declaring: “We are very much on track to deliver our bold five-year growth plan to double sales by 2026”.
The company is currently focussing on expanding its presence in travel hubs and roadside locations to reach more customers. Located in a petrol forecourt, Greggs’ 2,500th shop is its eighth with Sainsbury’s and brings the total number of shops with supermarket partners, including Asda and Tesco, to 50.
Just like with its first concession in a Sainsbury’s petrol station opened 12 months ago in Bedfordshire, the new shop is creating 12 new jobs for the local area and will offer the full Greggs product range to customers, seven days a week.
“We’re proud to have hit this milestone and opened our 2,500th shop in a location which demonstrates the breadth of our estate and the popularity of our brand,” commented Tony Rowson, property director at Greggs. “We are grateful for the hard work of our teams and the support of our valued partners as we continue to expand towards our vision of significantly more than 3,000 Greggs shops longer term,” he added.
A recently published list of the Top 10 Strongest British Brands 2024 had Greggs in second place behind accounting firm Ernst & Young and ahead of coffee shop chain Costa (7th) and KitKat (10th).
Rhian Bartlett, chief food commercial officer at Sainsbury’s, said: “We’re delighted to have opened our eighth shop with Greggs at our Cobham store. It follows the successful launches of Greggs café-style formats at other Sainsbury’s locations, which have already proved popular with our customers.
“Our collaboration with Greggs is part of our ongoing plan to attract many more people to choose Sainsbury’s as the place they come to for good food, and we’re excited to build on this partnership further.”
Earlier this year, Sainsbury’s also announced an agreement with Costa Coffee to open new cafés within 11 of its UK stores by the end of 2024.
Read the Bakery Market Report 2024
Greggs ranked number two in British Baker’s Bakery Market Report and was the fastest growing business with 145 net new sites. The report, which is available for free, takes a closer look at the UK’s out-of-home bakery market and provides analysis on the major players and their strategies for success.
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