greggs Archives - Ireland's Forecourt & Convenience Retailer

Bakery Chain Greggs plans first Drive-Thru for Northern Ireland

Julie Nash — Sat, 10 Feb 2024 13:53:18 +0000

Bakery chain Greggs has launched plans for its first drive-thru restaurant in Northern Ireland, the Belfast Telegraph has reported.

The drive-thru unit will be located Craigavon’s Marlborough Retail Park in Co Armagh after plans were submitted to Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council.

According to the plans, permission is being sought for a drive-thru unit with outdoor seating, next to the existing Burger King restaurant on the site.

The plans lodged with the local authority list the English company, known for its delicious sausage rolls and vegan sausage rolls, as the intended occupier of the new unit.

Last year, Greggs unveiled expansion plans, which included trialling a new 24-hour drive-thru, following a record high for sales.

At the time the chain did not confirm if its expansion plans would extend to Northern Ireland.

The Belfast Telegraph reported that Greggs will join fast food brand Burger King and coffee giant Starbucks which already have drive-thrus at Marlborough Retail Park. A supporting statement submitted on behalf of Turkington Properties said that the Craigavon retail park has undergone “significant redevelopment and investment” in recent years.

The retail park, which is next to Rushmere Shopping Centre and Craigavon’s Tesco superstore, recently secured a number of new tenants including Airtastic Entertainment, M&S Food, Home Bargains and O’Neills Sports.

The application submitted seeks an amendment to a previously approved restaurant unit.

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Greggs sales jump amid surging cost inflation

Julie Nash — Tue, 03 Oct 2023 17:45:02 +0000

Greggs has revealed that sales jumped by 15% over the past three months as cash-conscious consumers opted for value meals.

The bakery chain said sales slowed during August as people ditched the staycations that had been fuelled by the pandemic, but that momentum returned in September.

The company has revealed that the sales increase comes “in an environment where cost pressures are significant and our outstanding value-for-money positioning is ever-more important to consumers”.

Cost inflation for the year is expected to remain at its previous estimations of 9% on last year as the retailer faces surging costs of raw materials, production, and energy.

The chain – which has recently launched its new autumn menu including the pumpkin spice latte and the chicken and stuffing baguette – previously announced that customers would see 5p or 10p increases on some items as it was forced to raise prices for the second time this year.

Greggs said it has fixed prices with suppliers for a good level of its future food and energy costs.

Despite the “considerable uncertainty” across the wider economy, Greggs made no changes to its full-year profit guidance.

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EG Group opens first rebranded Cumberland Farms stores in the US

Linda Stewart — Mon, 03 Oct 2022 09:16:35 +0000

EG Group has opened the first three Cumberland Farm stores converted from its Tom Thumb fuel and retail brand in the US.

The UK-based fuel and foodservice giant plans to open 50 Cumberland Farms stores in 2022 and a further 50 in 2023.
EG Group first announced the conversion of 113 Tom Thumb stores to its Cumberland Farms brand in February 2022, a $50m initiative it anticipated would take up to two years.
EG Group acquired Cumberland Farms in 2019, which at the time operated 567 convenience stores across seven northeast states and Florida. The retail and fuel operator has a significant coffee offer, with the new stores offering a revamped food and beverage menu, including the brand’s in-house Farmhouse Blend coffee range.
Coffee and foodservice brands are playing an increasingly central role in EG Group’s global business. In September 2022, the forecourt operator said the strong performance of its foodservice brands in Europe had underpinned second quarter sales growth amid soaring energy costs that had impacted fuel revenues.
The company, which owns UK food-to-go and coffee chain LEON and bakery Cooplands alongside operating licensed branches of Starbucks, Cinnabon and Greggs, said that foodservice profits increased 11% to reach $177m during the period.
In April 2022, the operator announced a recruitment drive to create more than 32,000 jobs around the world to support the expansion of its foodservice brands.
Founded in 2001, EG Group operates a portfolio of more than 6,000 petrol station sites around the world, including 700 in the UK and Ireland.

Its US subsidiary, EG America, operates more than 1,700 locations across the country under the Cumberland Farms, Certified Oil, Fastrac, Kwik Shop, Loaf N’ Jug, Minit Mart, Quik Stop, Sprint, Tom Thumb, and Turkey Hill brands.
In the US, EG Group faces competition from French convenience store and fuel giant, Alimentation Couche-Tard, which operates more than 6,300 Circle K stores with a significant coffee offer across the country.

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EG Group’s food retail business helps drive revenue to £5bn

Linda Stewart — Wed, 25 May 2022 08:28:36 +0000

Forecourt giant EG Group has reported a rise in profits and sales in the first quarter following a strong performance in its food business.

For the three months to March 31, 2022, the UK petrol station and food retail business reported a 2% increase in group EBITDA to £215 million and a 25.1% jump in revenues to £5.5 billion.

EG Group, which is owned by brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa, said its foodservice operation saw gross profit increasing 54% year-on-year to £140 million and up 20% on a like-for-like basis.

The forecourt giant said foodservice growth continues to be “supported by the group’s pipeline of openings and investment in EG’s existing estate”.

EG Group opened a further 26 foodservice outlets in the period around the world, 21 of which were opened in the UK and Republic of Ireland — including Subway, Greggs, Cinnabon and Sbarro sites.

Grocery and merchandise gross profits inched up 0.8% to £234 million, with margins staying comparable to the previous year despite increases in wholesale and distribution costs.

EG Group co-chief executive Zuber Issa said: “EG Group performed resiliently in the first three months of the year. Against an uncertain and fast-changing backdrop, the business continued to make good progress against its strategic objectives across the group’s operations.

“The outlook for the year remains uncertain with household budgets already coming under significant inflationary pressure.

“However, we remain confident that the geographic diversity of our business, and our highly complementary grocery and merchandise, foodservice and fuel operations will continue to underpin our resilience and allow us to outperform the wider market.”

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Motor Fuel Group owners eyeing £5bn sale of petrol forecourts giant

Linda Stewart — Wed, 19 Jan 2022 10:42:13 +0000

UK independent petrol forecourt operating giant Motor Fuel Group is kicking off plans for a sale that could value it at about £5bn.

MFG, which is owned by the private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice (CD&R), has invited investment banks to pitch for a mandate to sell the company, which trades from roughly 900 sites across the UK, according to Sky News.

MFG said recently that it would spend £50m this year on installing 350 rapid vehicle chargers across its estate.

The company has grown substantially since CD&R bought it in 2015 from Patron Capital Partners in a deal worth about £500m.

Three years later, it paid £1.2bn to add market leader MRH, creating a group operating under fuel brands such as BP, Esso, Shell and Texaco.

Profits are understood to have risen approximately tenfold since CD&R’s original acquisition of MFG.

The company has invested heavily in its convenience retailing proposition, featuring the likes of Costa Coffee, Greggs and Subway at many of its sites.

The CD&R-owned company competes with supermarket-owned fuel chains, as well as the likes of EG Group, which is owned by Mohsin and Zuber Issa in conjunction with TDR Capital.

MFG’s increased focus on electrification may appeal to infrastructure investors who could seek to partner with each other to bid for the company, according to banking sources.

A deal could also attract interest from oil companies attempting to harness the global energy transition, they added.

MFG is run by William Bannister, who acquired the business in 2011 through a management buy-in, while it is chaired by Alasdair Locke, a serial entrepreneur in the energy industry.

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