Greggs hikes prices of popular bakery items

Greggs has revealed that it has raised the price of some popular items on its menu due to higher staff wage bills.

Roisin Currie, the group's chief executive, said some bakes and sandwiches have seen a 5p to 10p increase in recent weeks. Meal deal prices remain the same and there are no further price rises planned for the remainder of this year, she added.

It comes as the high street bakery chain reported a 16.3 per cent rise in underlying pre-tax profits to £74.1 million, for the six months leading up to June 29, with like-for-like company-managed shop sales seeing a climb of 7.4 per cent. Greggs said the profit growth was supported by “better recovery” of cost inflation than a year earlier.

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Ms Currie said the group took action to offset higher pay for its 32,000-strong workforce, having raised salaries ahead of the National Living Wage increase earlier this year. She said: "The biggest inflation cost right now is the increase in the National Living Wage and making sure our employees get the wage increases that are appropriate. That puts pressure on the cost increases within the business."

She reiterated there are "no prices increases on the cards currently" for the rest of this year.

Total sales rose by 13.8 per cent, totalling £960.6 million, over the first half for the group. The company said the boost in sales was down to new menu items, including iced drinks like the mango and strawberry cooler and the strawberries and cream refresher. Pizza deals also contributed to robust sales growth, with Greggs recently introducing a four-slice