People may love the idea of free sausage and an endless supply of steak bakes.
But the reality of working for a high street bakery can be quite different.
Christian Brayford worked at Greggs and revealed the secrets of the bakery and what staff have to deal with ion a daily basis.
And he says the free food and drinks which come as a perk of the job were not worth the time, effort and 'extremely difficult' circumstances workers faced.
GrimsbyLive reports the realities of working at the High Street bakery where he worked at multiple locations. Here's what he had to say;
I worked at Greggs what feels like a millennium ago. In fact, it was only back in January 2020 but world events and a global pandemic have caused time to seemingly stop in its wake.
I really enjoyed the food - I still do now. I often go to the Greggs on Old Brumby Street for a pasty treat (whatever's warm).
Whenever I'm in Grimsby, I'll always nip in to the Victoria Street store for a pink jammie doughnut.
I used to work at Greggs in Tadcaster, just off the A64 heading to York.
At the time, I was a shift leader so I was in charge of cash handling, staff management, dealing with complaints, ordering stock, and banking at the end of the day.
The working hours could be extremely demanding.
You had to be there at 4am on some shifts, and usually you wouldn't leave until after 6pm or later.
And when you arrived for work, it was absolutely freezing.
It was probably colder outside the shop than it was in it - without the exaggeration.
This was back in January so in the early hours of the morning it was particularly icy and brisk.
You weren't allowed to wear a jumper either - you were provided with a Greggs hat, Greggs t-shirt, a kitchen apron and a hair net (all staff regardless of the length of their hair had to wear one).
Breakfast is a huge part of Greggs and why people love it so much.
The egg, sausage and omelette roll was always a firm favourite of mine - along with ketchup.
At the start of the shift, you'd have to put the delivery away.
I found it odd that Greggs has two deliveries in a day - one in the very early hours of the morning and one in the afternoon.
But this was dependant on the store's location.
Our store used to have a delivery at around 2am or 3am in the morning.
This was when you'd have a delivery of all your sweet treats such as triple chocolate doughnuts, jam heart biscuits, Belgian buns and much more.
We would spend time on the delivery and preparing for breakfast - ensuring enough trays of bacon, sausage and omelette were prepared for the busiest part of the day.
And it was also the time that the bulk of sandwiches were made.
So whether you like a roast chicken and bacon club sandwich, a tuna crunch baguette, or a chargrill chicken oval bite, this was the prime time that they were made.
There was a specific guide, or cooking matrix, which had to be followed to incredible detail when preparing a sandwich.
It came down to the right amount of sauce, the right amount of vegetable and the right amount of protein or meat.
If you went over by the slightest margin, you'd have to make the sandwich again.
This is not to say that sandwiches weren't made throughout the day because they were, whatever was running short or low, we'd always have someone in the back preparing them from fresh.
Mostly all the items sold in Greggs are made in one of its factories, which are then transported to its stores to be refrigerated or to be kept frozen.
All the pasties, cookies, sausages, croissants, pain au chocolates were frozen before cooking.
The way to tell the difference with a Greggs pasty is by the design and shapes on its surface.
For instance, a corned beef pasty has horizontal little lines across its surface.
It never took long to cook them as the cookers were fantastically hot and very large to pack in almost everything you needed for the day.
Drinks were always a nightmare, it would take what felt like an hour to prepare one when you had a queue so long and people getting very agitated for a sausage roll.
And you always used to see the same people every day.
That was always nice as you got to connect with people and have a bit of a chat and a laugh.
But there were also times when it wasn't great.
Especially when you had a man from Plymouth shouting in your face because you didn't have any milk chocolate cookies available or when Peter from York couldn't use a loyalty stamp that was out of date.
I strongly sympathise and understand all customer service workers who go through similar things - but in different situations and environments - on a daily basis.
It certainly made it harder to motivate yourself to get up in the morning.
And the close down was always a nightmare.
We would practice hygiene and cleaning throughout the day on a 'clean as you go basis' but the shear volume of closing down was insane.
It usually took over an hour to record the day's banking, ensure all food beyond its use by date had been thrown away, and to clean the entire place from top to bottom.
I know it doesn't sound a lot, but it certainly felt like it after a demoralising shift of dealing with complaints, rudeness and a high demand for a cheese bake.
But one of the glorious delights at the end of the day was being able to take food home.
You'd be really surprised at how much food was wasted.
It was literally a tonne of pure sausage rolls and baguettes and sweets.
But it was great to decide which food you wanted to take home.
Sometimes I'd walk out of the building with about four of five bags of food.
It was great to see my family's face when I brought them something back.
My time at Greggs was very short lived, the first lockdown in March 2020 put an end to my time there.
When I was asked to go back in August 2020, I kindly declined the offer and handed in my notice.
So looking back at it now, was it all really worth it? The kindest answer is no.
Even by the time the first lockdown was imposed, I felt like a walking zombie.
The long hours were particularly draining.
Sometimes you'd be working five days on shift patterns of 14 hour days which can be demanding.
The pay was hovering very close to the national minimum wage of around £8.40 at the time.
So you can't really complain and grumble as it was a job.
The free food at the end of the day was amazing - even if it impacted my waist line.
But what really tipped me over the edge was the rudeness of customers.
And I still see the similar kind of rudeness today but in a different shop.
People can be so thoughtless and insensitive as to how their actions might be devastating or impact another person.
The abuse was unjustified and uncalled for.
But the saying goes if there isn't a reason to complain, someone will find a reason too.
I loved the food, but I don't think the experience of working in a Greggs was all it is cracked up to be.
