When was greggs made

Greggs' sales recovery stronger than expected. Greggs profits set to rebound to pre-Covid levels. Image source, Getty Images. New growth areas. Empty shop numbers rise as Covid continues to bite The experiences replacing closed High Street stores. It had 2, locations at the start of July. Image source, Greggs.

View comments. Related Topics. It is about creating an environment in which staff enjoy coming to work, trying to get people involved in our success, through shares and profit-related bonuses, for example, and seeing their shop as their own little business. If you like what you see and are interested in exploring any opportunities, please visit the organisation's careers page for more information. Sign up now to be part of Q1 Home Accreditation.

Leagues and Lists. Special Award Winners. Greggs Plc. Hidden mission statement. Officially an Outstanding Company to Work For. Officially a Good Company to Work For. No items found. Featured Workplace Factors. Greggs PLC is the operator of the largest bakery chain in the United Kingdom, specializing in sandwiches, savories, and other bakery-related products.

Greggs' stores operate under two names, Greggs, which focus on takeaway sales, and Bakers Oven, which offer in-store dining. The company's Bakers Oven units feature in-store bakeries. The Greggs units rely on large regional bakeries that serve clusters of retail outlets. The company's stores are located throughout the United Kingdom. Greggs also operates two stores in Belgium, units that represent the beginning of the company's expansion campaign into mainland Europe.

For the first three decades of its existence, Greggs was a small, local business, never displaying any sign that it later would become the largest chain of its kind in the United Kingdom. The business was founded by John Gregg during the s, when he opened a small bakery in the Tyne suburb of Newcastle, England. There the business stood, mostly unchanged for the next 30 years, as John Gregg served nearby residents his selection of breads, rolls, cakes, and related items. Greggs did not begin to assume the stature of an industry giant until John Gregg died unexpectedly in His son, Ian Gregg, who had planned a career in law, was forced to shelve his professional aspirations and take over the family business.

Ironically, it was its founder's death that gave Greggs new life. Ian Gregg, who served as Greggs' chairman into the 21st century, took to his new career with relish.

Instead of serving as a mere caretaker of the small bakery and its shop, Ian Gregg perceived the modest business as the beginning of a much larger corporation. He began expanding his father's company in the region surrounding Newcastle, establishing the company's model of expansion not long after his father's death. Although the property he inherited consisted of a shop with a bakery in the rear, Ian Gregg decided to separate the two functions, making production and retail sales geographically distinct operations.

He established additional stores in clusters whose breads, rolls, and other items were supplied by a single, central bakery. The mode of expansion gave Greggs the divisional structure that later defined the company, with each wave of expansion adding another regional division to the company's operations. More important at the time of its creation, Ian Gregg's methodology also enabled the company to achieve production, managerial, and financial efficiencies, efficiencies that would increase as the size of Greggs increased.

By the beginning of the s, Ian Gregg was ready to expand Greggs beyond northeastern England. He expanded outside the northeast by acquiring established, regional bakery chains, first moving to the north before expanding to the south.

Greggs established a presence in Glasgow, Scotland, in and acquired properties in Leeds in and in Manchester two years later. The addition of these territories gave Greggs four regional divisions, the structure of the company when it took its next evolutionary leap in In , Greggs hired a new managing director, Mike Darrington, who presided over the company's day-to-day operation into the 21st century.

He took the helm of a chain composed of shops, the result of Ian Gregg's work during the previous two decades. With Darrington in charge, the company prepared for its next major surge in growth, an expansion to be funded by its debut on the London Stock Exchange. With the proceeds raised from its IPO, Greggs pressed ahead with its expansion plans, growing by internal means and by acquiring other bakery outlets.