. for the new zealand coffee desserts and condiments company see gregg s new zealand . greggs plc type public lse grg industry food bakery group founded 1939 ; 77 years ago 1939 founder john gregg headquarters jesmond newcastle upon tyne united kingdom key people ian durant group chairman roger whiteside chief executive products sandwiches pies and pastries ; baked goods revenue 835.7 million 2015 1 operating income 73.1 million 2015 1 net income 57.6 million 2015 1 number of employees 19 847 2015 1 website www.greggs.co.uk greggs carmarthen during snowfall 2009 greggs waterlooville 2008 historic shop front greggs brecon 2005 greggs plc lse grg is the largest bakery chain in the united kingdom . it specialises in savoury products such as pasties sausage rolls and sandwiches and sweet items including doughnuts and vanilla slices . it is headquartered in newcastle upon tyne . it is listed on the london stock exchange and is a constituent of the ftse 250 index . the first greggs was opened in 1951 . originally growing regionally from its north east base greggs began to acquire other regional bakery chains across the rest of the country from the 1970s onwards . by the 1990s it was the largest bakery chain in the country after acquiring its major rival bakers oven in 1994 . in 2011 the chain had 1 671 outlets . 2 contents 1 history 2 operations 2.1 greggs moment 3 marketing 3.1 pasty tax 3.2 greggs more than meats the pie 4 references 5 external links history edit greggs was founded by john gregg as a tyneside bakery in 1939 . 3 it opened its first shop in gosforth newcastle upon tyne in 1951 . 4 when john died in 1964 the bakery was taken over by his son ian assisted by his brother colin . major expansion began soon after including the acquisitions of other bakeries such as glasgow based rutherglen in 1972 leeds based thurston s in 1974 broomfields the bakers london bowketts the bakers in kent tooks the bakers east anglia and price s manchester in 1976 . 5 in may 1994 the company acquired the bakers oven chain of bakers shops from allied bakeries . 5 in august 1999 greggs rebranded its 100 braggs bakers shops as greggs of the midlands and its leeds based thurston chain as greggs of yorkshire . 6 in december 2008 greggs announced that all of its 165 bakers oven branded shops would be re branded into the greggs brand so that all the shops could benefit from the greggs national advertising campaign . 7 in 2011 the company opened its 1 500th shop in york . 2 in 2012 the company began selling frozen pasties through supermarket chain iceland . in january 2013 greggs replaced its ceo ken mcmeikan with punch taverns ceo roger whiteside . mcmeikan left the firm for brake bros. 8 in november 2009 when it had around 1400 stores more than fast food chain mcdonalds the company announced plans for a further 600 . 9 in 2013 however in the face of declining sales . greggs stated that they were no longer intending to increase their number of stores . they aimed to refit 215 stores about 12 % of their estate by the end of the year as well as introducing new products such as pizza . 10 in august 2014 the company complained to google when an offensive satirical parody of the greggs logo was presented in search results as the actual company logo falling afoul of imperfections in the google algorithm . 11 the firm s lighthearted social media response was noted as a lesson in twitter crisis management . 12 13 operations edit the company has grown steadily over the years and now has over 1 600 outlets with many town and city centres having several stores . in may 2015 the chain had 1671 outlets 9 regional bakeries and employed 20 000 staff . 14 by march 2016 the number of outlets had grown to 1698 . 15 greggs moment edit in september 2011 greggs opened its first greggs moment a 104 seater coffee shop in its home town of newcastle . it was located on northumberland street . 16 this store was shortly followed by one in the nearby metrocentre in 2012 17 and the hill street shopping centre middlesbrough . five outlets had been opened by february 2013 . 18 in 2013 the company announced that this trial of entering the coffee market would be discontinued . instead there would be a focus on selling coffee from their existing stores . 19 marketing edit in july 2002 actress and model milla jovovich a fan of the store and its pasties 20 said that she would be willing to become the face of greggs in a new marketing campaign if the firm approached her . however no such approach was made . 21 pasty tax edit in march 2012 when chancellor of the exchequer george osborne announced that he was going to ensure vat was charged on pasties and other baked foods as it is on other hot takeaway food greggs participated in a campaign to reverse this decision which became known as the pasty tax or pasty gate . 22 greggs more than meats the pie edit an eight part documentary series called greggs more than meats the pie 23 which goes behind the scenes of the bakery and all its areas was broadcast on sky1 and sky1 hd in 2013 . the first episode achieved in excess of over 740 000 viewers with all ratings across sky1 sky1 1 and sky2 factored in . 24 sky revealed the documentary programme was sky1 s number one original show in april with a final total of 1.27 million viewers . 25 references edit a b c d annual report 2015 pdf . greggs . retrieved 9 april 2016 . a b greggs plc interim management statement pdf . greggs plc. 11 may 2011 . retrieved 24 july 2011 . takeaway market holds key to greggs future . the northern echo . 18 november 2003 . retrieved 16 february 2010 . earning a crust ; how famous bakery rose from pushbike yeast deliveries remember when a blast from the past . news . entrepreneur.com . 19 march 2008 . retrieved 16 february 2010 . a b history . greggs . archived from the original on 16 january 2010 . retrieved 16 february 2010 . greggs . ukbusinesspark.co.uk . retrieved 16 february 2010 . chief executive s review and trading update . greggs plc. 9 december 2008 . retrieved 10 march 2009 . thomas nathalie 2013 01 24 . greggs poaches punch taverns chief . telegraph . retrieved 2016 08 25 . how did greggs conquer the high street . bbc news . 10 november 2009 . retrieved 10 november 2009 . jennifer rankin 2013 10 09 . greggs slows sales decline as it battles to win back customers business . the guardian . retrieved 2016 08 25 . elena cresci 2014 08 19 . why did an offensive greggs logo show up in google s web search technology . the guardian . retrieved 2016 08 25 . bold ben 20 august 2014 . greggs gives lesson in twitter crisis management after fake logo debacle . marketing magazine . retrieved 5 november 2015 . usborne simon 22 august 2014 . was greggs response to its logo mishap a stroke of genius . the independent . retrieved 5 november 2015 . greggs the baker that is stopping selling loaves . bbc news . retrieved 19 may 2015 . ed cumming 2016 03 05 . how greggs conquered britain nobody can quite believe how well it has done business . the guardian . retrieved 2016 03 11 . karen dent 29 september 2011 . greggs open first coffee shop in newcastle . nechronicle . nechronicle administrator 13 august 2012 . greggs open coffee shop at gateshead metrocentre . nechronicle . retrieved 7 june 2015 . greggs moment headed for midlands . bakeryinfo.co.uk . retrieved 7 june 2015 . greggs shares hit after sales and profits fall bbc news . bbc.co.uk . 2013 08 06 . retrieved 2016 08 25 . milla munches geordie fare . bbc news . 9 july 2002 . retrieved 16 april 2007 . slav to love . daily telegraph . 8 april 2007 . retrieved 16 april 2007 . vat notice 701 14 catering and take away food . hm revenue & customs . october 2011 . greggs tv series airs in april british baker . bakeryinfo.co.uk . 2013 04 19 . retrieved 2016 08 25 . barb . barb.co.uk . jeffery morgan 2013 05 29 . revolution arrow revealed as sky s most watched shows in april . digitalspy.co.uk . retrieved 2016 08 25 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to greggs . corporate site consumer site yahoo profile v t e food chains in the united kingdom casual dining angus steakhouse ask beefeater grill bella italia brewers fayre byron hamburgers caf rouge carluccio s chiquito damon s ed s easy diner frankie & benny s giraffe gourmet burger kitchen harry ramsden s harvester hungry horse la tasca little chef loch fyne restaurants nando s ok diner pizza hut pizzaexpress prezzo strada table table taybarns t.g.i. friday s toby carvery tony roma s wagamama wahaca wildwood kitchen zizzi fast food barburrito burger king chicken cottage chipotle mexican grill dixy chicken domino s pizza five guys kfc mcdonald s morley s papa john s pizza sam s chicken sbarro southern fried chicken subway taco bell tops pizza tortilla wasabi wimpy yo sushi baked goods auntie anne s cinnabon cooplands ditsch dunkin donuts eat greggs krispy kreme millie s cookies patisserie valerie pret a manger sayers spudulike upper crust the west cornwall pasty company coffee shops and tea rooms amt coffee betty s caff nero caff ritazza coffee 1 coffee republic costa coffee harris hoole starbucks dairy baskin robbins ben & jerry s kaspa s shakeaway pub chains all bar one chef & brewer o neill s scream pubs slug and lettuce walkabout wetherspoons yates s v t e ftse 100 ftse 250 companies of the united kingdom 3i infrastructure aa aberdeen asset management aberforth smaller companies trust acacia mining aggreko aldermore group alliance trust allied minds amec foster wheeler ao world ascential ashmore group assura atkins auto trader group aveva balfour beatty bankers investment trust barr a.g. bba aviation beazley group bellway berendsen berkeley group holdings bank of georgia bh macro big yellow group b & m european retail value bodycote booker group bovis homes group brewin dolphin holdings british empire trust britvic brown n. btg plc cairn energy caledonia investments capital & counties properties card factory carillion centamin cineworld city of london investment trust clarkson close brothers group cls holdings cmc markets cobham computacenter countryside properties countrywide cranswick crest nicholson cybg daejan holdings dairy crest debenhams dechra pharmaceuticals derwent london dfs dignity diploma domino s pizza drax group dunelm group edinburgh investment trust electra private equity electrocomponents elementis entertainment one essentra esure euromoney institutional investor evraz f & c commercial property trust fidelity china special situations fidelity european values fidessa group finsbury growth & income trust firstgroup fisher james & sons foreign & colonial investment trust g4s galliford try gcp infrastructure investments genesis emerging markets fund genus go ahead group grafton group grainger great portland estates greencoat uk wind greencore greene king greggs gvc holdings halfords group halma hansteen holdings harbourvest global private equity hastings group hays henderson group hicl infrastructure company hill & smith hiscox hochschild mining homeserve howdens joinery hunting ibstock icap ig group holdings imi inchcape indivior inmarsat intermediate capital group international personal finance international public partnerships investec ip group jardine lloyd thompson jd sports john laing group john laing infrastructure fund jpmorgan american investment trust jpmorgan emerging markets investment trust jpmorgan indian investment trust jrp group jupiter fund management just eat kaz minerals keller