Vegan Sausage Rolls Propel Greggs Profits by 58 Percent

Underlying profits at United Kingdom-based convenience chain Greggs have increased by a whopping 58 percent in the first half of 2019 thanks largely to the astounding success of its vegan sausage rolls. In January, Greggs trialed the vegan sausage roll—which features 96 layers of puff pastry surrounding a Quorn-based vegan sausage—at 950 locations before expanding the vegan option to all of its nearly 2,000 locations nationwide in March. Greggs released its financial report this week which showed sales of £546 million ($664 million) in the first half of 2019—an increase of approximately 15 percent from this time last year. Greggs CEO Roger Whiteside called the company’s financial results an “exceptional trading performance” that is hinged on the sales of its vegan sausage rolls. “It’s driven by the increase in customer numbers we’ve seen this year,” Whiteside told Reuters. “That whole trend started in the second half of last year, and then when we got the vegan sausage roll out there in January it took another leap forward.”