After 63 years and 1,671 outlets, Britain’s biggest bakery chain is about to add another chapter to its history — by selling its fast food afloat.
In a pioneering venture with Wightlink, which operates ferries between Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, the Newcastle-headquartered Greggs is opening a store on board one of its vessels.
As part of an £800,000 investment by Wightlink, its flagship Portsmouth to Fishbourne car ferry St Clare will have its main passenger deck transformed to include a Greggs. The partnership follows on from the success of one of the bakery’s outlets at the operator’s Portsmouth Gunwharf terminal earlier this year.
A Greggs’ company spokesman explained the on-board shop, due to open with the ferry’s return to service in February, will be the size of an average high street Greggs store and will create a number of new jobs.
“Like all our shops, the on-board store will receive daily deliveries of sweets and bread from our local bakery and our sandwiches and savouries will be freshly prepared through the day,” he added. “The shop will sell a similar food-on-the-go range to that found in each of our travel hub stores, such as pasties, pies, sausage rolls and sandwiches.”
Describing the joint venture as a “fascinating opportunity” for the business, the spokesman went on: “We are always looking to open shops in locations where our customers want us. Travel is a key opportunity for us and we are working with a number of franchise partners at the moment to continue to develop in this attractive sector.”
Wighlink’s core routes are from Lymington to Yarmouth and Portsmouth to Fishbourne. It also operates a fast passenger-only catamaran between Portsmouth Harbour and Ryde Pier Head. If the St Clare outlet proves successful it’s expected more on board Greggs stores will open as Wighlink’s other car ferries are upgraded.
The first Greggs shop opened in Newcastle in 1951. Originally expanding from its North-East base, from the 1970s it quickly began to acquire other bakery chains, first regionally and then nationally. By the 1990s, and after acquiring major rivals Bakers Oven, it became the largest bakery chain in the UK.
In September Greegs reported a 5.4 per cent increase in like-for-like sales in its 2014 third quarter with trading conditions said to be “more favourable than had been expected”.
