The boss of bakery chain Greggs today admitted he had been caught out by the extraordinary demand for its new vegan sausage rolls after they went on sale last week.
Chief executive Roger Whiteside, who this morning unveiled a 5.2 per cent surge in the chain’s sales over Christmas, said: “We didn’t expect people to be quite as excited about it. We’re busy playing catch-up trying to get continuity in most stores. We’re chasing our tails.”
Many customers have complained that they have not been able to track down the £1 pastries at the 950 stores where they are on sale.
A video launching them has had more than 5.2 million views.
They were given a further huge publicity boost when Good Morning Britain TV presenter Piers Morgan said in a tweet: “Nobody was waiting for a vegan bloody sausage, you PC-ravaged clowns.”
The company said: “The launch of our new vegan-friendly sausage roll has proved very popular with a broad range of customers.”
Shares in Greggs soared again this morning, rising 105p, or 7.7 per cent, to 1472p, and are now up 16 per cent since the start of the year, putting more than £200 million on the value of the company.
But Sainsbury’s found the Christmas going tougher and blamed “cautious customer spending” for directly comparable sales being down a worse-than-expected 1.1 per cent over the festive period. Grocery sales rose 0.4 per cent but general merchandise and clothing fell 2.3 per cent and 0.2 per cent.
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