Member Article

Greggs outline second motorway outlet in trading statement

Bakery chain Greggs has said it is looking to launch a second motorway services outlet, following the success of an initial shop in Chesire.

The next shop will be launched in partnership with Moto Hospitality Limited at Birch services on the M62 next month.

The announcement came as part of Greggs’ trading statement, which also highlighted that total sales for the 19 weeks to May 12, were up 4.3%.

25 new shops were opened in the period, and are reported to be performing well. The company plans to add a net 90 new shops by the end of the year.

A second “Greggs moment” store, the coffee shop format, was opened in Middlesbrough earlier this month, following initial success in Newcastle.

The firm also took the opportunity to highlight damage that proposed VAT changes, or “pasty tax” as it has become known.

The statement said: “As a business famous for giving great value to our customers, we have highlighted the negative impact of the proposed VAT change during this period of consultation.

“The strength of feeling amongst our customers was clearly demonstrated with over 300,000 people signing our petition in objection to the tax.

“We support the Government’s aim of tax simplification, including clarification of the definition of “hot takeaway food.” Greggs has always charged VAT on products in this category, such as hot sandwiches, soup and hot drinks.

“What we cannot support is the Government’s current proposal to extend the standard rate of VAT to freshly baked food where there is no attempt to keep it hot and which is not designed
to be kept hot.

“The proposed changes are in our opinion unworkable and would give rise to many new anomalies and further uncertainties.

“While we understand the Government’s need to increase revenue, we fear the current proposal will have a disproportionate impact on the specialist bakery sector, resulting in further unemployment, high street closures and reduced investment.

“In our submission we will also highlight our concern that the estimate of the extra VAT revenue generated makes insufficient allowance for the Income Tax, NI contributions and Corporate Tax that would be lost, as well as the cost of extra unemployment pay.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .