Greggs said matcha helped it lift first-half sales 7.2% to £1.1bn, as iced drinks sold better during summer heatwaves. The chain’s newer drinks range and lighter food options pulled in younger customers while the company also posted a near-20% rise in pre-tax profit.
Roisin Currie said the group had adapted to hotter UK summers, adding: “We have become more resilient as we have seen hot weather become more of a normality at certain points in the UK.” For shoppers, that meant more cold drinks and fewer assumptions that warm weather would automatically dent trade.
Greggs sales reach £1.1bn
£1.1bn in total sales for the first six months of the year came alongside 2.1% growth at existing stores between January and June, showing that the uplift was not just about adding more sites. Greggs opened 34 new sites on a net basis in the period, taking its estate to 2,773 outlets across the country by the end of June.
7.2% overall sales growth was supported by a new chicken roll launched in April, plus a relaunched salad range with more protein, including a chicken caesar salad and prawn layered pasta salad. Greggs said it had introduced iced drinks last year and a more compelling range of salads this year, shifting more of the menu toward products that work in warmer weather.
Matcha pulls younger customers
New drinks including lemonades, refreshers and matcha helped Greggs appeal to new and younger customers, giving the chain a way to sell beyond pastry-led breakfast traffic. For a consumer base used to moving quickly between coffee, cold drinks and lighter lunch options, that mix creates more reasons to buy at different times of day. Jess Bender buys matcha, scrunchies during Amazon Prime Day is one example of how the drink sits inside wider youth-led spending habits.
Roisin Currie said Greggs had hedged 90% of its energy costs for this year and half of those for next year, while cost inflation had stepped back to 2% from 3%. The company also said key commodities such as cocoa and coffee had eased after a period of high inflation, which helped profit come in at £76m, up by almost 20% from a year earlier.
Greggs keeps prices steady
Greggs said it did not expect to put up prices further this year, and Currie said: “We remain focused on opening shops in more catchments”. That leaves the next phase centred on expanding into more local markets while holding prices steady, even as the company keeps pushing the warmer-weather drinks that helped this half-year turn out stronger than the last one.
