Greggs Will Pay Employees £7m Bonus After Vegan Sausage Roll Success

Greggs will reward 25,000 workers with a £7m special bonus after the successful launch of the bakery chain’s vegan sausage last year.

The vegan option boosted sales and profits of the company. Each person from Greggs staff will receive up to £300 bonus this month. Store workers and managers will receive the same amount. 19,000 workers, who have been with the company before and after the launch, will receive the full £300 payment. The rest will be given £75 for every quarter they have been with the company, up till December 2019. 

Greggs said the payment to workers is “in recognition of their crucial contribution to business success”.

The chain operates more than 2,000 stores around the UK.

The CEO Roger Whiteside said the company had delivered “a strong finish to what has been an exceptional year for Greggs” during which total sales rose by 13.5%. Sales at established stores rose 9.2% for the year.

“The major investments we have made in recent years to make Greggs an attractive choice in the food-on-the-go market are delivering. Consumers are responding very positively and we have seen increasing visits from both new and existing customers,” he said.

The company has achieved high levels of growth in a tough retail market and the "huge popularity" of its vegan sausage roll had driven sales. Therefore, Greggs will add even more new vegan options to the menu in 2020. 

The chain wants to open about 100 new shops this year and introduce new services such as takeaway dinners, online ordering and home delivery.