Food-on-the-go favourite Greggs has opened its 400th franchise shop as it ramps up plans for growth.
The Newcastle based business, which now has more than 2,200 shops across the UK in city centres, retail parks, train stations and airports and drive-thrus, opened the landmark 400th franchise shop in Selby, North Yorkshire, with the company’s newest franchise partner Rontec.
Greggs said the opening marks a key milestone as it progresses the continued expansion of its shop estate, in line with its strategic growth plans. In October 2021 Greggs unveiled plans to accelerate the rate of net shop openings to around 150 per year from 2022, with an ambition to reach at least 3,000 shops across the UK as its next portfolio target.
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Of the 150 net shop openings each year, around 50 are expected to be opened via franchise partners, through its 14-strong partner network which includes the likes of EG Group, Moto, MFG, Blakemore, Welcome Break, Park Garages, Compass, HKS, Falcon, Applegreen NI, Henderson, Appleby Westwards, Ascona and Rontec. Franchise shops are expected to account for 20% of the total estate in the years ahead.
The company said franchise partners play an important role in giving the company access to otherwise restricted locations such as motorway service areas, petrol filling stations, educational establishments and smaller high street convenience locations.
Malcolm Copland, commercial director at Greggs, said: “We’re delighted to announce our 400th franchise opening today, which demonstrates the success of our franchise model. Last year we set out an ambitious shop expansion target and our franchise partners will play an instrumental role in helping us achieve our goals.
“Over many years we have developed strong relationships with key franchise partners which has allowed us to accelerate our shop expansion plans, open in more on-the-go locations and become even more accessible for our customers. We’re pleased to add Rontec to our growing list of franchise partners and look forward to continuing our journey with all our partners in growing our estate to 3,000 shops and beyond.”
Meanwhile, a link-up between Greggs and Too Good To Go has stopped more than 6,000 tonnes of its food going to waste through the sale of one million ‘magic bags’ of food.
The social impact enterprise Too Good To Go teams up with companies to prevent waste, by helping customers to buy surplus products from restaurants, retailers and producers. By downloading the free app, people can search for nearby businesses offering unsold items which they can then buy as a ‘Magic Bag’, filled with food at a third of its original retail value, to be collected at an allotted time.
Greggs’ Magic Bags contain a mix of food including sausage rolls, wraps, cookies, sandwiches and doughnuts. More than 1,200 Greggs sites across the UK are now available to rescue surplus food from.
Sophie Trueman, managing director for Too Good To Go in the UK and Ireland, said: “We’re thrilled to be partners with a British staple like Greggs and to have reached such an incredible milestone so quickly. I’m incredibly excited to see our partnership continue to flourish and rescue even more Greggs favourites from going to waste.”
Gillian Long, Greggs retail operations director, added: “While we do everything that we can to redistribute surplus food to those in need, our partnership with Too Good To Go really helps to ensure we keep as much as possible from going to waste and continue delivering on our food waste commitments. As announced in the Greggs Pledge, we are committed to creating 25% less food waste by 2025 than we did in 2018, and we will continue to work towards 100% of excess food going to those most in need.”
