The Greggs sausage roll-out reaches Oxford Street
are faintly “fashion,” simultaneously horrendous and exhibiting commercial savvy.
But Greggs’s status as a working-class national success story and its low prices have tended to protect it from the kinds of criticism more readily levelled at fast food corporations and Big Hospitality more widely. As one former employeeduring the COVID-19 crisis, “Greggs is regularly held up by left-wing commentators of the ‘Nationalise Greggs’ variety as an example of what food service companies should aim to be: with a unionised workforce, profit redistribution and a living wage.
“...despite it supposedly being the ideal, Greggs still makes a profit in the same way as the self-styled bad guys of the food service industry — by overworking and underpaying its frontline staff.” In order for Greggs to win, it’s implausible that no one is forced to lose.
“Since opening our first ‘Tasty by Greggs’ in February this year [in Birmingham], it’s been brilliant to see fans enjoying the world’s biggest and most Instagrammable Greggs,” Rowson said. “Opening our second in Primark’s flagship Oxford Street East store will be yet another milestone in our wider London expansion.”