Greggs secret revealed as customers learn why its baked foods come cold

In these fraught times, Greggs is one of the few things holding this nation together.

How many return-to-office mandates have been saved by a local Greggs selling bargain pastries and remarkably tasty, reasonably-priced sandwiches? How many customer service incidents might have turned into seething arguments if not for the weight of a vegan sausage roll helping you to keep your feet on the ground?

Much-loved as the chain bakery might be, there are a few quirks that ruffle the feathers of the cynical/discerning public, and one is the way in which some hot counter products get served with something of a heat deficit. They’re still tasty, sure, but you’d likely rather have a meal cool down on your own terms.

The height of British cuisine: the Greggs sausage roll (bazza1960/Getty Images)

According to a former Greggs worker, there’s a pretty simple reason why that little phenomenon crops up.

Answering a post to Reddit asking ‘Why are the sausage and bean melts always cold?’, the ex-employee sprang into knowledge-dishing action.

It turns out that the well-lit food counter you’ll browse en route to the till might look heated, but it isn’t.

You’d think those warm-looking lamps were there to help keep the grub warm, but it turns out they’re just for presentation.

In other words, the temperature of your Greggs pastry is directly tied to how recently it came out of the oven.

The ex-worker advised that you ‘get there at the right time’, which is obviously easier said than done. After all, Greggs doesn’t publicly share its oven schedules, nor is it likely that there’s an easy routine to follow.

Rocking up as soon as the doors open is likely your best bet, provided the industrious staff haven’t already pre-cooked a couple of batches by opening time.

Otherwise, you could lurk in your local Greggs like an old lady surveying the slot machines at a casino, waiting to pounce on a machine that looks ready to spill its beans. Here, the beans you’re waiting for are encased in pastry with little chunks of sausage, and the slot machine is of course the industrial oven beavering away behind the scenes.

Some commenters suggested this cooling-down effect is deliberate. Hot takeaway food comes with added VAT, whereas cold or cooled-down products are exempt.

In other words, if you want guaranteed hot pastries from Greggs, you’d have to swallow the 20% additional charge in VAT.

It seems these suggestions were on the money, with Greggs confirming as much in a 2019 statement.

"We sell savouries which are freshly baked in our shop ovens then put on the shelf to cool,” it said.

That display case is colder than you might think (JUSTIN TALLIS / Contributor/Getty Images)

"We don't keep them in a heated environment, use heat retaining packaging, or market them as hot because of this. As bakers we believe that baking our savouries fresh each day gives customers the best quality product.

"If the sausage rolls and bakes were kept hot after they had been baked, then they would be subject to VAT and the customer would have to be charged a higher price, in the same way that we charge VAT on our hot sandwiches which are kept in a heated cabinet and are subject to VAT."

So there you have it: you might prefer your sausage and beans bake to come hot, but think of the savings!

Topics: Greggs, UK Food, Social Media