Why Greggs don't actually serve hot food

Six letters, deliciously flaky and mostly found up the North of England: What am I?

It’s not exactly a hard puzzle to solve if you’re a fan of bakeries and savories alike, but it’s certainly fun to get the answer instantly.

Obviously, it’s Greggs.

This British bakery chain has been serving hungry customers a range of yummies since it first opened its doors in Tyneside back in 1939, and it’s pretty much been a regular in our snacking habits ever since.

But have you ever bitten into a sausage roll or, more recently, a festive bake to find that it’s not even hot?

Well, when fans recently realised that Greggs don’t actually serve hot food, it caused a riot online.

Comments claiming the bakery has ‘fooled us all’ were rife on social media, and you can’t really blame pasty-lovers for feeling betrayed.

After all, we’ve all been in the line waiting for a batch of roasting hot sausage rolls to be taken out of the oven.

So, clearly hot food has been made. But the issue lies as to how they store it.

Peter Dazeley/Getty Images

Greggs do not keep their 'hot' food on a hot counter and that’s always been the way they do it.

That’s why depending on the time of day, you might get a stone-cold steak bake.

However, now we know the reason after Greggs released a statement, and it’s even on their website's FAQs in case you missed it.

The 'Pasty TAX' is out to get us, and Greggs is our saviour.

As there’s a tax which charges value-added tax (VAT) for hot takeaway food but not for food served cold or cool down, the bakery chain decided to bake fresh, and store for sale throughout the day.

A statement from Greggs explains: "We sell savouries that are freshly baked in our shop ovens, then put on a shelf to cool.

"We don't keep them in a heated environment, use heat-retaining packaging, or market them as hot because of this. As bakers, we believe that baking our savouries fresh each day gives customers the best quality product.

Instagram/@greggs_official

“If the sausage rolls and bakes were kept hot after they had been baked, then they would be subject to VAT and the customer would have to be charged a higher price, in the same way that we charge VAT on our hot sandwiches which are kept in a heated cabinet and are subject to VAT."

This might be why you need to go into the shop at the right time, usually first thing in the morning to grab yourself something hot otherwise it’s generally lukewarm.

In an FAQ for ‘Why wasn’t my bake hot?’ on the site, they even clearly state the same thing, so they’ve been pretty open with us from the start regarding the ‘why’ of it all.

So, if you’re ever disappointed that you can’t find something hot at Greggs, just know that they’re doing us a service and they were never designed to be hot to begin with so that you could save yourself some pennies.

Thanks, Greggs!

Topics: Food And Drink, Greggs, UK News

Britt Jones