GREGGS CONTINUES TO TACKLE FOOD WASTE AND POVERTY WITH OPENING OF 30TH OUTLET SHOP

* Greggs Outlet shops are a dedicated channel for unsold food, addressing household food insecurity and food waste

* 30th Outlet shop opened on Cundy Road, East London on 2nd December

* Shop opening marks 83 years of Greggs supporting its local communities

* Milestone highlights commitment to Greggs Pledge to support and grow stronger, healthier communities across the UK

Greggs, a leading UK food-on-the-go retailer, today announces the opening of a new Outlet shop on Cundy Road in Newham, East London.

Greggs Outlet shops are a companywide initiative originally set up in 1972 to support socially deprived areas and to redistribute unsold food items. The Cundy Road opening marks the milestone of 30 Greggs Outlet shops in total, highlighting Greggs’ strong progress in its commitment to open 50 Outlet shops by 2025.

The Outlet shops form an integral part of the Greggs Pledge to build stronger, healthier communities and support those most in need. By selling unsold, day-old food products at a reduced price, families on a tight budget are able to spend less while still having access to great quality food.

A share of the profits from each Outlet shop is donated to The Greggs Foundation, Greggs dedicated charity, which is then passed to local community organisations; in 2021, approximately £370,000 was raised for charity through Outlet shops. The chosen partner organisations are those focused on tackling food poverty and providing food and support for people in Greggs local communities near its Outlet shops.

Reducing food wastage is a key priority for Greggs and the Outlet shops are one of its initiatives to support food redistribution across the UK. In 2021, Outlet customers bought 1.1 million sweet products, 1.1 million sandwiches and 1 million savoury products. In total that year, 880 tonnes of food was passed onto the Outlet shops and overall, Greggs was able to redistribute 28% of all unsold food, up from just 12% in 2018.

With the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals calling to cut in half per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer level by 2030, the expansion of the Outlets enables Greggs – alongside its other initiatives - to continue to make a global impact in its efforts to reduce food waste, alleviating economic, social and environmental pressures in the UK and beyond. Beyond the Outlet shops, Greggs has partnered with food-saving app, Too Good To Go, alongside local charity partners, in its efforts to cut food waste.

Roisin Currie, CEO at Greggs said: “As a leading food on the go retailer in the UK, it’s important that we do our bit to put an end to food waste and help to tackle poverty, hunger and deprivation across all the communities we operate in. We have three channels for giving good food a second chance – we donate it to charities who can make use of it; we offer it to our customers at a discount via the Too Good To Go app; and we sell it at a discountthrough our Outlet Shops. The expansion of our Outlet shop estate is a core part of the Greggs Pledge and a testament to the commitment we make every day in supporting our customers’ health, our communities, and our planet, that we are on track to deliver against our 2025 targets.”

Tracy Lynch, Greggs Foundation Manager said: “The funding we receive from Greggs Outlets directly contributes to our community hub programme, ensuring that profits generated by Greggs Outlets stay within the local community to help address issues of poverty and inequality. Money will be put 2 towards one-year grants, which are typically used to cover salaries, overheads or community projects, that really make an impact in local communities close to Outlet shops.

Following on from the Cundy Road opening, more Outlet shops are in the pipeline already as Greggs work towards their target of having 38 shops by 2023. The Outlet shops are predominantly situated in the North and Midlands, including in Newcastle, Birmingham and Glasgow.