Greggs and Pret chat šŸ„Ŗ

General Chat
108

In my experience Greggs nationwide are closer to the Pret model here than Starbucks. There are two Greggs stores within five minutes of my workplace, effectively bookending the town so no-one is now than two minutes from a Greggs.

Iā€™d guess the reason they donā€™t do the same in London is because London rents be crazy so they get a better return focusing on notLondon? Or Pret have already monopolised the available sites :joy:

Is Subway still big in London? When I used to go up on the regular you couldnā€™t move without tripping over a Subway, like walking through a videogame with a repeating background.

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109

Thereā€™s still lots of them but I donā€™t think many people eat in them, most of them are pretty empty.

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111

True they are really expensive now! They are all on just eat and Deliveroo and I wonder if many people order them on there.

All the ones near me are halal and I donā€™t like the halal meatballs, they arenā€™t as good. Last time I had one must have been over seven years ago.

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112

Subway is also a franchise model so they can set up within stones thrown of each other in some kind of competition style situation.

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113

I suspect in the north perhaps but I still think Greggs have ā€œthingsā€ people specifically go there for - the vegan sausage roll, the sausage cheese and bean melt etc.

I couldnā€™t really say what Pret ā€œhaveā€. They did have their 99p filter which was exceptional value at one point but other than that I donā€™t think people seek out a Pret in the same way.

Thatā€™s where the subscription comes in - Pret knew this and found a way (very novel and unique at the time) for a customer to seek a Pret even if it was out of the way.

115

This is my experience. I remember there were several small bakeries in my hometown, of varying quality. Greggs came along and it was so much cheaper while also often being better. The local ones died one by one and now thereā€™s three Greggs there (and one surviving local bakery).

I suspect this is more the key to Greggs success - there were already loads of bakeries, Greggs just took over the existing market by competing on price.

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116

I am either too young or too northern to remember a time before Greggs

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117

It was about 1995 when Greggs came to my hometown, for reference (which is in the midlands). No idea how ubiquitous it was up North at that point

119

Iā€™m in my 50s and I can remember Greggs going back to 1970s when it was a treat when my Gran used to take me there. And apart from that the other local bakers we had in the North East was Carricks but they are long gone having eventually been taken over by Greggs

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121

well I grew up in Newcastle and apparently Greggs has been there since 1939 so I am way too young

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122

In Sheffield we had Fletchers Vans, and also Cooplands :slight_smile: when I was growing up in the 80ā€™s

123

Thereā€™s one down the road from where my mother lives. Gorgeous sandwiches with loads of filling (if a bit sickly :slight_smile: )

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Only one near us is the one in Sheffield on Fitzalan Square, the rest have all gone unless we go to Pickering but then we go to Russells :slight_smile:

125

Greggs offer rescinded from :octopus:

Used Nero anyway today as I could go large, but the Greggs offer wasnā€™t there.

127

Unless it disappeared when I activated Nero Iā€™m not sure, but definitely wasnā€™t there.

129

Nope.

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Could be as I used the Nero, but Iā€™m sure it wasnā€™t there when I went to select. Iā€™ll see next week.

With Max, Iā€™d have 4 free coffees a week at this rate :yum:

O2, Max, Octopus (Greggs and Nero if both work).

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131

Tried that, they donā€™t - Octopus informs ā€˜Looks like youā€™ve picked your offerā€™. Spoilsports.

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132

Yeah just spotted, thanks!

3 coffees is still Ā£6+ better off a week :joy:

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133

I sort of agree - to me itā€™s convenience, knowing what youā€™re going to get, and something that tastes a little more fresh (even though that last point is debatable).

Personally like their Rye rolls which they brought in a couple of years ago.

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134

They honestly are fresh. Nothing is from the day before. All the ingredients are delivered overnight to each store and staff come in very early and start prepping the vegetables and fillings, only making enough to keep the shelves full and then continuously making throughout the day.

It isnā€™t going to be any fresher to be honest, and not any fresher than making something at home.

My 4am starts are screaming back at me.

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