Whats going on with greggs?

RTMandan

Really am getting sick of my local greggs shop and have actually sent an email to head office to complain.

Firstly the pastys and sausage rolls are always cold, what is the point of advertising hot pastys if you arent going to sell them hot! I also no longer buy these there for hygiene reasons, if they are letting them go cold and sitting around for ages chances are they will make someone ill!

Also they never have anything left if you go after two o clock. i know they are busiest at lunchtime but sometimes they have nothing left after lunch, no pastys, no pizza and no sandwiches. what is the point of staying open?

Does this happen at every branch or just mine, I am in Leeds.

VfM4meplse

RTMandan wrote: »

I also no longer buy these there for hygiene reasons, if they are letting them go cold and sitting around for ages chances are they will make someone ill!

This surprises me, how long would it take for a member of staff to stick it in an oven / under a grill?

Having said that you've made a good argument for not making more snacks than can be sold at l/t...they'd only be sitting around gleefully waiting to cause a rampant stomach upset .

RTMandan

VfM4meplse wrote: »

This surprises me, how long would it take for a member of staff to stick it in an oven / under a grill?

Exactly, but they wouldnt even need to do that if they had the hot counter switched on and kept the pastys hot!

VfM4meplse

I thought Greggs was a franchise (which tend to be very strict), but clearly not: http://corporate.greggs.co.uk/faqs/

If there's a hot counter I'm sure HO would presume it's being used. It may be worth calling them with some feedback: http://corporate.greggs.co.uk/contact-addresses

fashionlover10

Greggs don't sell hot products, they only ever claim the food is freshly baked (something to do with VAT apparently)

rustyboy21

Oh No another Greggs thread.

What was gleaned from previous posts was the following....

1. Greggs bake daily instore.
2. Because of this, you will not pay VAT on said products, as they are left to cool under the heat lamps which will keep them warmer longer.
3. If greggs were to heat up a product again for you, you would be liable to pay VAT on the purchase.
4. Leaving them to slowly cool in the heat lamps, will not make them more susceptible to bacteria. In fact heating one up for you could actually be worse.
5. If you leave it until 2 pm to buy a pasty, then it will be cooler than at 12-1pm. Due to above.
6. They are a business, they have to factor in wastage into there business model, to make it viable. Putting a tray of pasties in at 3pm, when you closed at 4.30-5pm is not economically viable.
7. I like my pasties cool, IMO they have more taste than very hot ones. I have never had any ill effect from eating them.
8. I have heard in the past , they have been hit by legal action of burns from buying products just out of oven. This is why they don't immediately put cooked product straight on display.
9. You save paying VAT on them. What is stopping you nuking them back to hot in the office/home? If you cannot do that, then you have to make a considered decision on whether to buy or not.

Hope above helps

libra10

I've found that local Greggs stores (Preston) can be down on stock of different flavours of pies and pasties.

Last time in town I bought some of their cupcakes as they were on offer. Although they looked gorgeous they were stone hard and absolutely stale. They must have been on display for ages.

I don't usually complain, but was so annoyed, sent feedback form on Greggs website. No reply received.

s_b

i converted a diehard never going in a greggs place to eat a sausage roll with me alfresco in the middle of a busy open shopping space
they enjoyed it
it filled a gap
we saved loads of money faffing about with waitress service and a crap cup of tea
the other threads even told me no horses heads were used in the food process

as said if you dont like greggs butt out and let me get to the counter:D

withabix

RTMandan wrote: »

I also no longer buy these there for hygiene reasons, if they are letting them go cold and sitting around for ages chances are they will make someone ill!

I suggest you go and read up on how bacterial food poisoning works, before posting misinformed comments like that.

Still, more pies available for everyone else.

Ich_2

In these parts there are a lot of places if you don't take food with you, you go hungry. Greggs is useful as it opens fairly early so I can call in one near home and stock up for the day!

paddyrg

withabix wrote: »

I suggest you go and read up on how bacterial food poisoning works, before posting misinformed comments like that.

Still, more pies available for everyone else.

Isn't it about time in the 'danger zone', and as such allowing the pasties to cool below 60-something degrees to anything above 4ish degrees increases that risk? Granted if the OP's 'stone cold' means 'chilled' as opposed to ambient temperature, I understand your comment, but otherwise I'd have though keeping ex-hot food at ambient temperature would be worse than keeping it hot?

But the VAT question is why Subway don't offer 'hot' sandwiches, they offer ones 'toasted for flavour' I understand!!