Iced matcha lattes and a bigger range of salads and chicken rolls helped Greggs to boost its sales during the string of summer heatwaves, as the bakery said it was adapting to the UK’s increasingly hot summers.
Total sales at Britain’s biggest fast food business rose to £1.1bn for the first six months of the year, 7.2% higher than the same period a year earlier.
The rise in sales was largely down to extra stores, as the chain opened 34 new sites on a net basis, taking the total number of Greggs outlets across the country to 2,773 by the end of June.
The Newcastle-headquartered company said this year’s new shops had been performing well so far, which it attributed to its “disciplined focus on high-quality locations”.
Sales at the company’s existing stores rose by 2.1% between January and June, helped by a wave of price rises on key items at the start of 2026.
Roisin Currie, the chief executive, said Greggs did not expect to put up prices further this year as its prediction for cost inflation had taken a step back to 2% from 3%.
She said the company had been able to hedge 90% of its energy costs for this year and half of those for next year, protecting it from the recent surge in the oil price, while the cost of key commodities such as cocoa and coffee had stepped back after a period of high inflation.
The chain’s pre-tax profit rose by almost 20% from a year earlier to £76m for the first half of the year, which it said was because of cost control as well as growth in its “bake at home” range of frozen treats, which launched in Tesco earlier this year, while it expanded the range sold in Iceland supermarkets.
The results mark a turnaround compared with last summer when its sales and profits were hit as customers shunned pastries such as steak bakes and vegan sausage rolls during periods of hot weather.
That prompted analysts and consumers to ask whether the UK had hit “peak Greggs”, with Currie insisting otherwise last summer, saying the company had previously bounced back from other downturns.
That revival appears to be well under way, with Greggs saying the introduction of new products on its menus had helped attract health-conscious customers, even during the heatwaves.
A new chicken roll launched in April was hailed as a “standout success”, while Greggs said a relaunched salad range featuring more protein, including a chicken caesar salad and prawn layered pasta salad, had helped it offer healthier lunchtime options.
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Currie said Greggs had adapted to the rise in the number of hot spells in the UK by introducing iced drinks to its range last year and a “more compelling” range of salads this year. “We have become more resilient as we have seen hot weather become more of a normality at certain points in the UK,” she said.
Greggs has also been able to appeal to new and younger customers by offering new drinks including lemonades, refreshers and matcha, the antioxidant-rich green tea that has become popular with gen Z consumers, defined as those born between 1997 and 2012.
Currie said the latest results showed the company “continued to outperform the market” and it still had room for more outlets, particularly in travel hubs, industrial sites, retail parks and by motorways.
She said: “We remain focused on opening shops in more catchments and introducing convenient ways for customers to pick up Greggs favourites, while broadening and innovating our menu in line with changing tastes and trends.”
Julie Palmer, a managing partner at the financial and real estate advisory group BTG, said Greggs was undeterred from store expansion plans despite the challenging economic outlook and growing use of weight-loss drugs.
“As any price rises can quickly translate into demand crumbling away, Greggs will have to continue walking the tightrope of pricing and controlling costs to retain and grow market share as the food-to-go provider of choice,” she said.
