Greggs hikes price of sausage roll for fourth time in over a year despite rising sales

Greggs has increased the price of its popular sausage roll once again, in the fourth price hike since 2021.

The lunchtime snack cost just £1 less than two years ago, increasing to £1.05 at the start of 2022 and then again to £1.10 in May.

The price was upped again in October last year to £1.15 and it now stands at £1.20 following a fourth increase.

In the years previous, customers were able to grab the popular snack for just 85p in 2016, and 90p in 2017.

In some city centre locations like London, customers are now paying a monumental £1.45 for a sausage roll.

Greggs has said that inflation is continuing to hit its prices, with the group seeing its costs up by about 9% on average over 2022, compared with the previous year.

Roisin Currie, Greggs CEO, said that despite consumers facing cost-of-living pressures, its meals remain "good value" and is therefore still attractive to customers.

She added that it was “too early to tell” how cost inflation will pan out this year, but expects it to be a similar situation to last year - hinting that Greggs could put in place further price rises in the future.

Later opening hours

Greggs has recently announced it will be extending the opening hours of more of its stores. Currently 500 of its sites are open until 8pm and beyond, whereas most are open until 5.30pm or 6.30pm.

The firm started to extend its opening hours last year as it slowly introduced an evening menu that featured the likes of pizzas, sharing platters, and hot desserts.

Greggs has not specified which sites will take on the extended opening hours, but Ms Currie said the "early-evening is not the fastest growing daypart" for the bakery chain.

The firm has also said it plans to open a further 150 new stores this year, after having a quite successful 2022. The bakery chain announced that its sales have surged by nearly a quarter throughout last year to hit £1.5 billion, up from £1.2 billion it made in 2021.