Gregg’s confirms expansion reports

Gregg’s confirms expansion reports

Popular British bakery chain Gregg’s has confirmed its expansion plans after reports it could open 50 new sites in NI.

The huge company has 1,668 outlets throughout the UK, including a “trial” store at Belfast’s Applegreen forecourt near Templepatrick, and is understood to be eyeing another 50 for the region.

Speaking to Neighbourhood Retailer on Tuesday morning, a spokesperson for the chain said: “We continue to view Belfast and Northern Ireland as an attractive market. We currently have one franchise shop open and continue to look for good opportunities to develop our estate.”

The company’s chief executive Roger Whiteside said earlier this year the island of Ireland was a “great opportunity” and that a move was something they were “definitely supportive of”.

However, “supply chain issues” had delayed a full scale expansion across the Irish Sea.

Now, those issues may have been resolved, as the Belfast Telegraph reports the company has hired property consultants Savills to scout for new sites.

Should their full quota of ambition be realised, it would mean over 200 jobs in the sector – good news for employees, as Gregg’s was recently voted one of the UK’s best employers in the food and drink sector.

Gregg’s said on October 9 they were “delighted” to be in the top ten retail employers in a survey commissioned by Glassdoor; ranking them sixth out of 25,000 companies.

In the 13 weeks to 3 October 2015, Gregg’s like-for-like sales in their company owned shops grew by 4.9 per cent, slightly ahead of expectations.

Over the past 12 months, the company opened 65 new shops and closed 47.