greggs case study gcse business

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Greggs: an agile approach to strategy & business model thinking

John Gregg founded his bakery business in 1939, selling eggs and yeast from his bicycle in Newcastle. The business grew, and his son Ian joined his father and mother, selling pies from his van to miners’ wives. They opened their first shop in Gosforth in 1951.

When John died in 1964, the bakery was taken over by Ian, and major expansion began, including the acquisitions of other bakeries such as the Bakers Oven chain from Allied Bakeries in 1994.

Greggs grew to be the largest bakery chain in the UK, home of the bacon sandwich and a coffee for two quid special offer which, disappointingly, is now £2.10 (a friend told me, honestly), famous for pies and pasties and everything you firmly resolved on December 31 would never touch your lips again.

A couple of years ago, Greggs fell victim to adverse PR about its product range and customer base. Oh how the Prêt crowd sniggered into their avocado and crayfish salads. Yet plucky old Greggs just got its head down and kept growing. ‘It’s a northern thing’ no longer serves as an explanation. The patronising notion that Greggs’s popularity is inversely proportional to the nation’s economic fortunes also fails to explain its steady expansion.

Today Greggs generate £1m a week from sales of coffee. It has repositioned the brand from an ordinary bakery-to-take-home to a high growth food-on-the-go entity, meeting changing customer demands and evolving food culture.

A new strategy was introduced in 2013 under CEO Roger Whitehouse, formerly Head of M&S Food, which focused on four pillars: Great tasting freshly prepared food; best customer experience; competitive supply chain; first class support teams.

Whitehouse introduced a ‘restless dissatisfaction’ approach to compliment the traditional business values, ensuring the business would never stand still after recovering from a period of stagnation. He implemented some radical changes, including closing the in-store bakeries, and introducing the ‘Balanced Choice’ range of products with less than four hundred calories, healthier options to the traditional product range.

And it’s worked. Having launched the first vegan sausage roll in January, last week the company announced a 50% rise in profits to £40.6m in the first half of 2019. The business is handing shareholders a £35m special dividend after total sales rose 14.7% to £546m.

In 2016, Greggs weren’t in the takeaway breakfast market but now only McDonalds sells more takeaway breakfasts. With a Fairtrade Expresso, it has overtaken Starbucks to become the third-largest takeaway coffee seller, behind Costa and McDonalds, while only Tesco sells more sandwiches.

So what are the lessons from the success of Greggs changing its business strategy and model that we take into our startup thinking?

1.     Be agile in how you connect with customers

Greggs expects to pass 2,000 outlets this year, 65% are on high streets, with the remaining 35% located in retail and office parks and in travel locations such as railway stations and petrol forecourts. The aim is to change the emphasis of the business so that it is 60% non-high street by the time it has 2,500 shops.

Part of this is having many of its stores open earlier and close later, in order to target those going to and coming back from work, expanding its breakfast menu to suit, and with ‘Greggs à la carte’ stores to open late to 9pm to lure evening takeaway diners.

As well as its new drive-through locations, the company is trialing a click-and-collect service, as well home and office delivery by Just Eat and Deliveroo. They aim to integrate click-and-collect and delivery services with the company’s Greggs Rewards app, which offers free drinks and birthday treats.

Greggs has previously failed with new ideas such as Greggs Moment , a coffee shop-style outlet with seating, and the Greggs Delivered service, which is only available in Newcastle and Manchester city centres, three years after it launched. However, the business is now at a scale where it can experiment without too much risk.

Takeaway: Greggs route to market strategy is to based on expanding their reach to enhance customer convenience, a ‘fish where they swim’ strategy, reducing the barriers between themselves and their customers, uplifting the customer experience and making the ability to connect and purchase convenient.

2.     Build your brand to face your market

Greggs has in recent years persistently bucked the wider trend on UK high streets, where most retailers are struggling to compete as sales shift online and the cost of running stores rises.

In 2013, Greggs began to transition out of the bakery market with the reasoning that it couldn’t compete with supermarkets, switching to focusing solely on the ‘food on the go’ market after discovering that 80% of its business was with that market. They stopped selling bread in 2015.

Greggs has worked hard at getting consumers to think about it as a food-on-the-go chain, developing ideas such as online ordering for collection and home delivery, developing strategic partnerships with their supply chain to focus on the four key pillars of their strategy.

They are more in touch with where the customers are today. It has managed to cater to new markets without being overly ambitious. The builder can still come off the building site and get a hot pasty, but there are also salads. The decor is still recognisable even if it has been upgraded and the older traditional customers still feel comfortable.

Takeaway: Many businesses want profit as their objective. But if you only focus on short-term wins and results, you get distracted from doing the work required to build the skills you need to grow and scale, and it’s the ability to scale that matters. The process is more important than the outcome at early stages of a change of strategy. Focus on getting good before you worry about getting big.

3.     Look forwards, not backwards with your product offering

Greggs sells 1.5 million sausage rolls a week but created the new vegan option due to public demand after an online petition signed by 20,000 people. In recent years Greggs has been innovating within its product range to appeal to a broader range of customers. Its ‘Balanced Choice’ healthy eating range, introduced in 2014, offers options including wraps and salads, all below 400 calories. It also sells gluten-free and several vegan lines.

The company also believes it can take advantage of rising demand for food ‘customisation’, driven by allergies and ‘food avoidance’ preferences, and its stores now make sandwiches to request.

One in eight new customers have bought a vegan sausage roll in 2019, which has overtaken doughnuts and other pastries to become a bestseller. The traditional sausage rolls remain at number one – with its 96 layers of light, crisp puff pastry – but there are more vegan products in development, including a vegan doughnut. It’s worked, such that Ginsters released their own vegan product for the first time in its 52-year history.

Takeaway: Greggs has been bold in its response to the adverse publicity on its offering and changing food culture. Aligning your product strategy with a focused brand image and route to market is core to any business model.

4.     Be clear about your marketing message & tone of voice

Before the Greggs vegan sausage rolls went on sale, TV presenter Piers Morgan sent out a tweet: Nobody was waiting for a vegan bloody sausage, you PC-ravaged clowns. The tone of the company’s response: Oh hello Piers, we’ve been expecting you – friendly but with a slight edge, was perfectly attuned to the ironic, self-confident marketing Greggs has adopted, a James Bond-inspired, droll putdown that was the perfect riposte.

Their hilariously portentous launch video – part of a build-up that parodied the release of a new iPhone model with journalists sent vegan rolls in mock iPhone packaging and stores sold sausage roll phone cases – meant that for days Twitter was engulfed with people talking about a £1 bakery product.

The vegan sausage roll campaign, officially launched to support the Veganuary campaign that encouraged people to give up animal products for a month, followed other memorable promotions include a Valentine’s Day campaign offering ‘romantic’ £15 candlelit dinners in Greggs shops, and a spoof ‘Gregory and Gregory’ event, and one faux pas: a 2017 advent calendar tableau of a sausage roll in a manger. After complaints Greggs apologised and reprinted with a different scene featuring Christmas muffins.

Takeaway: Greggs found its distinctive marketing style in 2012, when it saw off then-chancellor George Osborne’s proposed ‘pasty tax’ on hot takeaway food. Since then it has been consistent in its purposeful, structured and memorable content driven communication strategy, making the brand relevant to its target audience and differentiating its offering in an increasingly competitive market to reposition the brand.

5.     Don’t let your business model become stale

Innovation can be about efficiency. Look at Ikea, and The Billy bookcase. It’s a bare-bones, functional bookshelf if that is all you want from it. The Billy isn’t innovative in the way that the iPhone is innovative. The Billy innovations are about working within the limits of production and logistics, finding tiny ways to shave more off the cost, all while producing something that does the job. It demonstrates that innovation in the modern economy is not just about snazzy new technologies, but also boringly efficient systems.

The Greggs shop environment has been improved and significant investments made in logistics and delivery systems to make them more efficient and scalable. In-store ordering moved to a centralised forecast and replenishment system rather than relying on shop teams filling in manual order forms, which resulted in order accuracy and improved availability for customers.

All shops are on a refurbishment programme (every seven years) to ensure they stay looking bright and welcoming. In-store point of sale and window displays remain key to Greggs’ marketing strategy, however, a loyalty app was also introduced.

Takeaway: innovation in Greggs is about efficiency, economy and effectiveness, searching for ways to make their products even better and affordable for their target market. A ‘back to basics’ focus on the business model reflects the culture and humility of the brand. Combined with brave decision making to implement change and execution in a consistent, simple and continuous manner has delivered the results.

6.     Ensure your folks keep clear heads

Amidst the hullaballoo and the fury of the frantic activity in the coming and going of customers at busy times, staff have to keep a clear head. In the heat of the moment, they cannot get caught up in the intensity and frenzy. Resilience in times of peak demand is needed to keep the customer experience as fresh and stimulating as the steak bakes.

When you go to a Greggs, the staff are so engaged in what they do its untrue, they are like whirling octopus serving customers, and they do it with good humour, bantering with regulars, enjoying the success of seeing returning customers, before going again.

With 10% of profits going to the Greggs Foundation to help fund Breakfast Clubs for children and over £1m raised annually for Children in Need, the vegan pastry has helped change the perception of Greggs, but fundamentally it’s a people business, about delivering service, experience and the community it operates.

Takeaway: So, focused on a simple, core value proposition – reasonable quality food at reasonable prices, consistently produced and scaled – but the fundamental premise is to make customer experience the brand differentiator.

Many takeout food companies are head-on competition to Greggs, but due to its focused marketing strategies highlighting choice, quality, nutrition & easy access, the company is able to create sustainable advantage.

Changing lifestyles, changing eating habits and increasing health awareness factors are affecting the growth of the companies in this industry. Greggs has set its strategy from a customer’s point of view and with customer-based insights, to ensure the business model is as robust as it can be.

Adopt Greggs’ agile approach to strategy and business model thinking, to focus on the horizon and hold your vision. Do something everyday to move your business forward, and that makes you stand out from the crowd. A sheep has never stood out from another sheep, so don’t follow the herd blindly. People will take notice.

Ian Brookes

The founding father of tsf.tech, Ian has spent the last decade working as a co-founder, investor and board member/advisor with a number of tech businesses and startups, with hands-on fundraising experience of c£64m via PLUS, AIM, FTSE and VC/PE.

More insights from the team

Lessons in entrepreneurship from thomas telford, the innovation mindset of alan turing, we’re ready to talk....

Wherever you are on your startup journey, get in touch and let’s unpack your thinking together and see where we can help turn your idea into a reality.

Best printed on A3, "Business in Context" gives learners an opportunity to read about about discuss a real business scenario. This resource is ideal traning for section B questions of the OCR GCSE Business Studies exam and content relates solely to the Business 2 specification.

This is a second resource focusing on Greggs. The scenario in the centre is factual and slightly different to part 1. The resource includes a teachers' notes sheet to point learners in the direction of some potential responses.

Six questions around the outside discuss:

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Business Case Study & Questions - Greggs Part 2 (OCR Business 2)

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Greggs: The Strategic Issues Analysis Case Study

Introduction.

Greggs is a popular business in the United Kingdom since it provides customers with high-quality food. The business has a rich history explaining how the company overcame various challenges. The current environment also offers many issues that should be properly managed. That is why the given report assesses strategic issues of Greggs and focuses on the internal and external conditions that determine how the organization develops.

Strategic Issue Diagnosis

Business issues.

The given company represents the UK food-on-the-go industry, and it is reasonable to consider its life cycle. The field has a vast history and was experiencing a dramatic increase pre-pandemic. For example, the UK market was worth £18.9 billion in 2019, but the crisis led to its estimated value of £15.6 billion in 2021 (Heath par. 2). That is why the industry is currently facing an economic downturn resulting in financial losses for individual businesses.

The life cycle of the selected organization also deserves attention. The company emerged 80 years ago when John Gregg started delivering fresh eggs and yeast by pushbike (Greggs, “Our History” par. 1). The first shop was opened ten years later, and it gave rise to a large system, including almost 2,000 stores today (Greggs, “Our History” par. 4). Throughout its history, Greggs attempted to satisfy customers’ needs and expectations, which explains the development of a vegetarian menu, free Wi-Fi, and so on (Greggs, “Our History” par. 2-3). This information demonstrates that the organization is ready to make strategic decisions to promote growth.

Cultural Issues

The cultural web is a helpful tool that relies on numerous elements to assess Greggs culture. Firstly, the Stories component reveals that the organization positions itself as a major employer and a provider of healthy food, while ordinary citizens appreciate it. Secondly, Greggs relies on many symbols to establish and distribute its cultural values. In particular, the company uses unique stores interior and exterior design, customized packages, and specific gift cards. The organization invests in marketing, meaning that Greggs advertisements appear at cars and on streets. Thirdly, routines and rituals represent the accepted norms and practices governing the workforce. The company has regular meetings for the board of directors, while rituals are developed for ordinary employees (Greggs, “People” par. 3-8). For instance, the business provides individual workers with a rewarding system, training and growth opportunities, and an equal environment.

Fourthly, the organization relies on a specific control system to ensure that employees correctly perform their duties. Greggs provides its workers with competitive salaries and shares a part of the overall profits with them (“People” par. 5). Fifthly, the company’s power structure is represented by the board of directors, including eight highly skilled and experienced professionals. Finally, the business’s organizational structure consists of a few departments, each of which is responsible for a particular business area. This information concludes that Greggs is an example of task culture. The rationale behind this statement is that the organization is divided into departments, i.e., teams, and each of them is expected to solve issues within its responsibility area. All the teams and their members join their efforts to contribute to the business development.

Political/Governance Issues

Greggs has two groups of stakeholders, including internal and external ones. Internal stakeholders are employees and executives, while customers and suppliers represent outside ones. A mapping activity allows for identifying the meaning of these groups and how the business should address them. Executives have high interest and power, meaning that they should receive the most attention. Suppliers have low interest and power, and the company should monitor them. Low interest and high power characterize customers, and Greggs should keep them satisfied. Finally, employees feature high interest and low power, denoting that the organization should keep them informed.

A principal-agent issue emerges when it is necessary to hire new employees. Since managers cannot have exhaustive information about candidates’ performance, their hiring involves risks that can affect the entire organization. The organization tries to minimize these hazards and ensure all the employees effectively engage in performing their obligations. Competitive salaries and additional bonuses serve as an effective motivation for workers.

In addition to that, Greggs draws significant attention to corporate social responsibility. In 2021, it announced “The Greggs Pledge,” highlighting the objectives and positive changes that the business wants to achieve. In particular, the company advocates for stronger and healthier communities, promises to establish a carbon-neutral and zero-waste business, promotes diversity, and establishes sustainable operations (Greggs, “The Greggs Pledge” 4). These goals demonstrate that the organization understands its social responsibility and does its best to improve the world.

External Analysis

Macro level issues.

The PEST analysis is helpful since it can reveal what specific political, economic, social, and technological forces affect the business. Firstly, the UK government is serious about food safety, meaning that Greggs should satisfy such standards to operate within this environment. Secondly, economic conditions significantly deteriorated when the COVID-19 pandemic shocked the world. The organization lost a significant part of its revenues and is currently struggling to reach pre-crisis levels. Thirdly, social forces are positive for Greggs because the organization has high brand awareness, and customers positively assess it. Fourthly, the company benefits from technological achievements because free Wi-Fi and online marketing tools attract more customers. Macro-level scenarios imply that the organization should use its internal and external strengths to mitigate adverse impacts of political and economic issues.

Market and Industry Analysis

Greggs relates to the strategic group of fast-food restaurants, meaning that the business should prioritize specific values. For instance, they are timely service, an efficient supply chain, and a professional workforce. Greggs offers products for the middle class, including representatives of all races, genders, and ethnicities. Simultaneously, the Five Forces analysis demonstrates that the organization’s position in the industry is challenging. The threat of new entrants is not high, but Greggs still has to invest in innovation and growth to have an advantage over new players. The bargaining power of suppliers is medium, and the organization should diversify its supply chain and cooperate with multiple partners to mitigate risks. Buyers have a significant force in the market, and Greggs should continue increasing its customer base to protect long-term development. The threat of substitutes is rather high, and the company should offer high-quality services and products to address it. Finally, Greggs should differentiate its brand to compete with numerous rivals.

Environment-Organization Fit

The selected company does its best to ensure that it positively affects the environment. Greggs scans for its impact on nature and develops specific goals to minimize this harm. In particular, the business announced that it would use less packaging, reduce carbon emissions, and decrease the amount of waste (Greggs, “The Greggs Pledge” 4). However, the company does not mention that it relied on Big Data and analytics to address the issues.

Internal Analysis

Sbu analysis.

The organization consists of a few strategic business units, and thye join their efforts to create a value chain. In particular, there are three committees, including the audit, remuneration, and nominations ones (Greggs, “Board Committees”). Simultaneously, the Chief Executive Officer presides over the operating board with its responsibilities. The given value system implies that these bodies are responsible for different activities that are performed to ensure that Greggs can adequately offer service and products to customers.

Organizational Architecture

The previous section has already commented on what committees are involved in Greggs management. However, it is now reasonable to comment on what relationships exist among individual bodies. Horizontal links have occurred among the committees that are subordinate to the board of directors (see fig. 1). The synergy among all these establishments results in the fact that the business has a rather effective and clear organizational architecture.

Financial Resources

Financial analysis of the business reveals mixed results that deserve attention. On the one hand, the company’s financial report demonstrates that the 2021 total sales increased to £1,229.7 million from £811.3 million in 2020 (Greggs, “Annual Reports” 1). However, the price-to-earnings ratio is 20.82, which is significantly lower compared to the average industry value (Investing.com). These findings reveal that both positive and negative features can be found.

Integrative Internal Analysis

Greggs has a few generic strengths that allow it to withstand the crisis. Drawing attention to workforce training and development is one of them. Since the company has a skillful workforce, it can easily overcome different challenges. In addition to that, this characteristic feature provides the organization with numerous capabilities to develop and grow. Consequently, Greggs should invest more resources to attract and retain experienced employees.

The report has presented an analysis of Greggs as well as its external and internal environments. The COVID-19 pandemic brought many challenges, and the company was forced to deal with versatile consequences. However, the findings reveal that the organization has sufficient resources to mitigate the challenges. In particular, social and technological conditions, as well as an experienced workforce, provide Greggs with effective resources to keep developing.

Works Cited

Greggs. “Annual Reports and Accounts 2021.” Web.

“Board Committees.” Web.

“Our History.” Web.

“People.” Web.

“The Greggs Pledge.” Web.

Heath, Kim. “Will the UK Food-To-Go Market Get Back to Growth Post Pandemic?” AHDB, 2022.

Investing.com. “Greggs PLC.” 2022.

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IvyPanda. (2023, July 17). Greggs: The Strategic Issues Analysis. https://ivypanda.com/essays/greggs-the-strategic-issues-analysis/

"Greggs: The Strategic Issues Analysis." IvyPanda , 17 July 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/greggs-the-strategic-issues-analysis/.

IvyPanda . (2023) 'Greggs: The Strategic Issues Analysis'. 17 July.

IvyPanda . 2023. "Greggs: The Strategic Issues Analysis." July 17, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/greggs-the-strategic-issues-analysis/.

1. IvyPanda . "Greggs: The Strategic Issues Analysis." July 17, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/greggs-the-strategic-issues-analysis/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Greggs: The Strategic Issues Analysis." July 17, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/greggs-the-strategic-issues-analysis/.

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​This editable resource comprises a complete collection of exam-style case studies for Edexcel GCSE Business (9-1) and also contains a full set of suggested responses.

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Each case study relates to one or more specific sections in the specification, details of which are found on the document “List of Titles and Topics”. Case studies are written to reflect a specific “Theme”, either a sole trader, partnership, Ltd or franchise for Theme 1, and Ltd and plc for Theme 2. All questions written, together with the mark schemes, match the style found in the specimen assessment materials provided by Edexcel.

In general, there are three questions that follow each case. Two shorter answer questions, usually a 2 mark and a 6 mark question, are asked first, followed by either a 9 or 12 mark question. The focus of the two shorter answer questions may relate to the advertised theme of the case, but not in all instances. This is due to the length of the case study and the nature of the specification. The subject of the longer marked question however, will always assess the advertised case study topic area. Whether a 9 or 12 mark question has been written, will be dependent on the topic area in question.

At times, calculation questions have been included to replace a written question, to reflect the increased focus on quantitative skills in the specification.

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2. Both, or just one, of the shorter mark questions can be given, without providing the 9 or 12 mark question; this may be appropriate at the start of the course, when answering a 9 or 12 mark question may be too challenging for students

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As detailed above, a breakdown of the topics assessed in each case study is given on the document “List of Titles and Topics”, to facilitate teachers with their planning and use of this resource.

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Greggs case study: building back better with new Fairtrade commitments

Greggs are a long-standing and unique partner with Fairtrade in food-on-the-go retail.

Greggs and Fairtrade: a success story on-the-go

The partnership started in 2006 when Greggs introduced Fairtrade coffee. It has since gone from strength to strength.

Read the interview with Malcolm Copland, Greggs’ commercial director.

Greggs’ Fairtrade commitments now include:

• Coffee beans
• Apple juice
• Orange juice
• Sugar sticks
• Sugar syrup
• Hot chocolate

Over the last 17 years, Greggs have generated over £6.1 million in Fairtrade Premium for farmers and workers across their supply chains, from sales of coffee, tea, hot chocolate, fruit juice, sugar, cookies, and bananas. In 2021 alone, Greggs generated £1m in Fairtrade Premium for farmers and workers.

The Greggs Pledge

Greggs’ commitment in 2021 to sourcing its chocolate from Fairtrade forms part of the company’s sustainability plan, The Greggs Pledge. This pledge supports Greggs’ commitment to sourcing sustainably and having a robust Responsible Sourcing Strategy in place by 2025.

Start a conversation. They’re nice people at Fairtrade. Malcolm Copland, Greggs’ Commercial Director

The pledge, launched in February 2021, sets out the company’s 10 commitments to help make the world a better place by 2025. These commitments are aligned with the ambitions of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This has a hugely positive impact for cocoa farmers as it supports improved household income, helps track climate change, and strengthens women’s empowerment.

Interview with Malcolm Copland, Commercial Director at Greggs

Malcolm Copland, Commercial Director at Greggs, spoke to Fairtrade Foundation’s Will Browning, Head of Partnership Development, about the success of the partnership.

Will: Can you tell us how things have been for Greggs during the pandemic and about your decision to go ahead with your commitment despite the bleak environment? Malcolm: When it came to the values of the business, protecting our people was key, but we also wanted to rapidly progress with some of the plans we had in place and the work that we were doing with Fairtrade. It was important for us to accelerate the plans into chocolate. We were delighted to be able to do that for our supplier partners. Will: Why did Greggs first start working with Fairtrade? Malcolm: It was very much about our values, particularly around providing quality products and doing the right thing as a business. At the time, we were entering into the coffee market and we wanted to ensure that we could deliver something back in the supply chain. Because it was an independent certificate, Fairtrade enabled us to demonstrate that we were treating farmers fairly. And that’s why the certification was very important to us; because it reflected the values of the Greggs business, developed 86 years ago.

Through the Greggs Foundation with our breakfast clubs and what we do within the communities where we operate in the United Kingdom, there was a great synergy. Will: What you are most proud of since you first started out on your Fairtrade journey? Malcolm: I’m proud of being Fairtrade’s strategic partner for food-on-the-go when it comes to Fairtrade Fortnight. I’m also proud of working on collaborative marketing campaigns to highlight the benefits of Fairtrade to our customers and communities.

The things that personally have touched me, are that we’ve had farmers coming into Greggs. They have met our retail teams and our Board.

I remember a couple of female farmers talking about what Fairtrade has meant to their communities and to them personally – in terms of the social equity. And how it has transformed their lives and the lives of their families. That was important to us to hear first-hand. And I think has really impacted us very strongly in terms of doing more with Fairtrade across more categories as well.

It makes the hairs at the back of my neck stand up thinking of how impactful it was and how it touched so many people. Malcolm Copland

The second highlight was when our retail team went to meet some of the farmers. We then brought the story back into the Greggs annual conference. Seeing on the big screen the story of the team meeting the farmers and listening to what Fairtrade meant to them. I really don’t think there was a dry eye in the house.

And to this day it makes the hairs at the back of my neck stand up thinking of how impactful it was and how it touched so many people. These things have made such a big difference in terms of making it real for people. These things have made such a big difference in terms of making it real for people. Will: In 2021, Greggs launched The Greggs Pledge, which includes 10 commitments to make the world a better place by 2025 and beyond. Which of these commitments does Greggs’ partnership with Fairtrade contribute to?

Malcolm: The pledge is very much about our commitment to the planet and communities. We publish our progress against our 10 commitments every year. Fairtrade, we think is key to a number of them. We are committed to growing breakfast clubs and supporting our communities.

Equally, on what Fairtrade does – our coffee commitment means farmers are better equipped to put food on the table for their families. The commitment to reducing food waste is another. Working with our partners across the Fairtrade commodities is key for us in terms of efficient supply chains and ensuring that there’s less wastage. Our commitment to carbon neutral is key and we are collaborating with all of our partners on that. And I think that when we look at building shops in the future, we want our customers to be immersed as well. The shops of the future will enable us to communicate more about Fairtrade. Finally, embracing diversity. We talked already about social equity, the work we’re doing with female farmers, on empowerment and education. That for us is very, very important within Greggs and in our supply chain. All of this goes into our commitment on sustainable procurement as well. Will: What would you like to say to farmers in your Fairtrade supply chains? Malcolm: First a thank you. Thank you for the dedication they have to their profession. They’re obviously working very, very hard to develop themselves and to reinvest back into the communities and back into the profession as well.

Higher farmer standards are fantastic, it means a better-quality product for us. And it also means that we have a better understanding of the supply chain in terms of our carbon footprint.

Their hard work is very much appreciated. Will: How would you like to see the partnership with Fairtrade evolve in the future? Malcolm: Both of our strategies are embracing initiatives on specific themes such as climate, social equity, right to livelihood – which can strengthen the brands’ sustainable sourcing goals. Also to continue to develop a wider impact to ensure a just transition to a low carbon society across our complete supply chain. And making sure the farmers and growers associated are involved in carbon reduction and remain resilient to climate change. Will: And finally, what would you like to say to the rest of your industry about Fairtrade and working with Fairtrade? Malcolm: I think that it would be a great thing to start the conversation with Fairtrade. To really understand the certification and the process. And beyond the certification, in terms of the strategy of where Fairtrade is going beyond 2025 and how that that can support them in their journey, and their strategy.

So, start a conversation. They are nice people at Fairtrade.

Article correct as of July 2022.

Tate & Lyle: Fighting child labour with Fairtrade

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20 GCSE Business Case Studies

Subject: Business and finance

Age range: 14-16

Resource type: Lesson (complete)

Last updated

18 February 2024

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20 High Quality Business Case Studies from Around the World.

Each Case Study introduces the business, provides lots of theory slides and tasks, ends with an application exam style question (with example answers) and also inclides keyword flash cards specific to each case study and the skills/theories learned.

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Exam techniques - Edexcel Case study – Unit one: Small business

Learn techniques for taking your GCSE Business exam with example questions, answers and case studies.

Part of Business Exam techniques

Case study – Unit one: Small business (answering using PINCC)

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The case study.

Sarma’s Café is a small café that specialises in exotic coffees sourced from around the world. The café business has one shop located near a busy town centre. There are several other cafés in the area. However, none shares the same unique selling point.

At the moment, Sarma does not have a website and has only just started taking payment by card. However, all orders have to be taken at the till in the shop before they can be processed, and customers have no option for delivery.

Sarma has recently decided that due to an increase in demand and promising financial performance, she would like to grow the café business. She is currently considering opening new premises, opening a website and online app, starting a delivery service and starting to sell food. Sarma has been conducting some market research and is trying to decide the best option to grow her business.

Example answers

One method of analysing a case study is called PINCC: product, industry, customers and competitors.

In the above case study, we can see that:

• the product is exotic coffee
• the industry is the café and coffee industry
• the customers are most likely people of all ages above 16
• the competitors are the several other cafés in the area

Outline one method Sarma’s Café uses to add value to the business.

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A (low mark): It uses card payments to add value to the business.

A (high mark): Sarma uses the unique selling point of ‘exotic coffee’ to add value to her café business.

The second response above is a high-mark response because the respondent has answered the question accurately, with context and a relevant example.

Explain how Sarma’s Café could benefit from opening a website and online app.

A (low mark - 1): Sarma’s could benefit from opening a website and online app by getting more customers, because more people would see the business. This would bring more customers.

A (middle mark - 2): Sarma’s Café would benefit by having increased customer awareness. This is because more potential customers would know about the business and it would be easier to order. This would lead to the business gaining more customers and profit.

A (high mark - 3): Sarma’s Café would benefit by providing customers of all ages with an easier method of ordering exotic coffees. This is because it would be more convenient, providing customers with a service that would mean they no longer had to queue at the till when in the busy town centre. This would lead to more customers choosing to purchase refreshments from Sarma’s Café, and therefore Sarma would gain a competitive advantage over several local competitors.

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Greggs: an agile approach to strategy & business model thinking

Posted on: August 7, 2019 in Strategy

John Gregg founded his bakery business in 1939, selling eggs and yeast from his bicycle in Newcastle. The business grew, and his son Ian joined his father and mother, selling pies from his van to miners’ wives. They opened their first shop in Gosforth in 1951.

When John died in 1964, the bakery was taken over by Ian, and major expansion began, including the acquisitions of other bakeries such as the Bakers Oven chain from Allied Bakeries in 1994.

Greggs grew to be the largest bakery chain in the UK, home of the bacon sandwich and a coffee for two quid special offer which, disappointingly, is now £2.10 (a friend told me, honestly), famous for pies and pasties and everything you firmly resolved on December 31 would never touch your lips again.

A couple of years ago, Greggs fell victim to adverse PR about its product range and customer base. Oh how the Prêt crowd sniggered into their avocado and crayfish salads. Yet plucky old Greggs just got its head down and kept growing. ‘It’s a northern thing’ no longer serves as an explanation. The patronising notion that Greggs’s popularity is inversely proportional to the nation’s economic fortunes also fails to explain its steady expansion.

Today Greggs generate £1m a week from sales of coffee. It has repositioned the brand from an ordinary bakery-to-take-home to a high growth food-on-the-go entity, meeting changing customer demands and evolving food culture.

A new strategy was introduced in 2013 under CEO Roger Whitehouse, formerly Head of M&S Food, which focused on four pillars: Great tasting freshly prepared food; best customer experience; competitive supply chain; first class support teams.

Whitehouse introduced a ‘restless dissatisfaction’ approach to compliment the traditional business values, ensuring the business would never stand still after recovering from a period of stagnation. He implemented some radical changes, including closing the in-store bakeries, and introducing the ‘Balanced Choice’ range of products with less than four hundred calories, healthier options to the traditional product range.

And it’s worked. Having launched the first vegan sausage roll in January, last week the company announced a 50% rise in profits to £40.6m in the first half of 2019. The business is handing shareholders a £35m special dividend after total sales rose 14.7% to £546m.

In 2016, Greggs weren’t in the takeaway breakfast market but now only McDonalds sells more takeaway breakfasts. With a Fairtrade Expresso, it has overtaken Starbucks to become the third-largest takeaway coffee seller, behind Costa and McDonalds, while only Tesco sells more sandwiches.

So what are the lessons from the success of Greggs changing its business strategy and model that we take into our startup thinking?

1.     Be agile in how you connect with customers

Greggs expects to pass 2,000 outlets this year, 65% are on high streets, with the remaining 35% located in retail and office parks and in travel locations such as railway stations and petrol forecourts. The aim is to change the emphasis of the business so that it is 60% non-high street by the time it has 2,500 shops.

Part of this is having many of its stores open earlier and close later, in order to target those going to and coming back from work, expanding its breakfast menu to suit, and with ‘Greggs à la carte’ stores to open late to 9pm to lure evening takeaway diners.

As well as its new drive-through locations, the company is trialing a click-and-collect service, as well home and office delivery by Just Eat and Deliveroo. They aim to integrate click-and-collect and delivery services with the company’s Greggs Rewards app, which offers free drinks and birthday treats.

Greggs has previously failed with new ideas such as Greggs Moment , a coffee shop-style outlet with seating, and the Greggs Delivered service, which is only available in Newcastle and Manchester city centres, three years after it launched. However, the business is now at a scale where it can experiment without too much risk.

Takeaway: Greggs route to market strategy is to based on expanding their reach to enhance customer convenience, a ‘fish where they swim’ strategy, reducing the barriers between themselves and their customers, uplifting the customer experience and making the ability to connect and purchase convenient.

2.     Build your brand to face your market

Greggs has in recent years persistently bucked the wider trend on UK high streets, where most retailers are struggling to compete as sales shift online and the cost of running stores rises.

In 2013, Greggs began to transition out of the bakery market with the reasoning that it couldn’t compete with supermarkets, switching to focusing solely on the ‘food on the go’ market after discovering that 80% of its business was with that market. They stopped selling bread in 2015.

Greggs has worked hard at getting consumers to think about it as a food-on-the-go chain, developing ideas such as online ordering for collection and home delivery, developing strategic partnerships with their supply chain to focus on the four key pillars of their strategy.

They are more in touch with where the customers are today. It has managed to cater to new markets without being overly ambitious. The builder can still come off the building site and get a hot pasty, but there are also salads. The decor is still recognisable even if it has been upgraded and the older traditional customers still feel comfortable.

Takeaway: Many businesses want profit as their objective. But if you only focus on short-term wins and results, you get distracted from doing the work required to build the skills you need to grow and scale, and it’s the ability to scale that matters. The process is more important than the outcome at early stages of a change of strategy. Focus on getting good before you worry about getting big.

3.     Look forwards, not backwards with your product offering

Greggs sells 1.5 million sausage rolls a week but created the new vegan option due to public demand after an online petition signed by 20,000 people. In recent years Greggs has been innovating within its product range to appeal to a broader range of customers. Its ‘Balanced Choice’ healthy eating range, introduced in 2014, offers options including wraps and salads, all below 400 calories. It also sells gluten-free and several vegan lines.

The company also believes it can take advantage of rising demand for food ‘customisation’, driven by allergies and ‘food avoidance’ preferences, and its stores now make sandwiches to request.

One in eight new customers have bought a vegan sausage roll in 2019, which has overtaken doughnuts and other pastries to become a bestseller. The traditional sausage rolls remain at number one – with its 96 layers of light, crisp puff pastry – but there are more vegan products in development, including a vegan doughnut. It’s worked, such that Ginsters released their own vegan product for the first time in its 52-year history.

Takeaway: Greggs has been bold in its response to the adverse publicity on its offering and changing food culture. Aligning your product strategy with a focused brand image and route to market is core to any business model.

4.     Be clear about your marketing message & tone of voice

Before the Greggs vegan sausage rolls went on sale, TV presenter Piers Morgan sent out a tweet: Nobody was waiting for a vegan bloody sausage, you PC-ravaged clowns. The tone of the company’s response: Oh hello Piers, we’ve been expecting you – friendly but with a slight edge, was perfectly attuned to the ironic, self-confident marketing Greggs has adopted, a James Bond-inspired, droll putdown that was the perfect riposte.

Their hilariously portentous launch video – part of a build-up that parodied the release of a new iPhone model with journalists sent vegan rolls in mock iPhone packaging and stores sold sausage roll phone cases – meant that for days Twitter was engulfed with people talking about a £1 bakery product.

The vegan sausage roll campaign, officially launched to support the Veganuary campaign that encouraged people to give up animal products for a month, followed other memorable promotions include a Valentine’s Day campaign offering ‘romantic’ £15 candlelit dinners in Greggs shops, and a spoof ‘Gregory and Gregory’ event, and one faux pas: a 2017 advent calendar tableau of a sausage roll in a manger. After complaints Greggs apologised and reprinted with a different scene featuring Christmas muffins.

Takeaway: Greggs found its distinctive marketing style in 2012, when it saw off then-chancellor George Osborne’s proposed ‘pasty tax’ on hot takeaway food. Since then it has been consistent in its purposeful, structured and memorable content driven communication strategy, making the brand relevant to its target audience and differentiating its offering in an increasingly competitive market to reposition the brand.

5.     Don’t let your business model become stale

Innovation can be about efficiency. Look at Ikea, and The Billy bookcase. It’s a bare-bones, functional bookshelf if that is all you want from it. The Billy isn’t innovative in the way that the iPhone is innovative. The Billy innovations are about working within the limits of production and logistics, finding tiny ways to shave more off the cost, all while producing something that does the job. It demonstrates that innovation in the modern economy is not just about snazzy new technologies, but also boringly efficient systems.

The Greggs shop environment has been improved and significant investments made in logistics and delivery systems to make them more efficient and scalable. In-store ordering moved to a centralised forecast and replenishment system rather than relying on shop teams filling in manual order forms, which resulted in order accuracy and improved availability for customers.

All shops are on a refurbishment programme (every seven years) to ensure they stay looking bright and welcoming. In-store point of sale and window displays remain key to Greggs’ marketing strategy, however, a loyalty app was also introduced.

Takeaway: innovation in Greggs is about efficiency, economy and effectiveness, searching for ways to make their products even better and affordable for their target market. A ‘back to basics’ focus on the business model reflects the culture and humility of the brand. Combined with brave decision making to implement change and execution in a consistent, simple and continuous manner has delivered the results.

6.     Ensure your folks keep clear heads

Amidst the hullaballoo and the fury of the frantic activity in the coming and going of customers at busy times, staff have to keep a clear head. In the heat of the moment, they cannot get caught up in the intensity and frenzy. Resilience in times of peak demand is needed to keep the customer experience as fresh and stimulating as the steak bakes.

When you go to a Greggs, the staff are so engaged in what they do its untrue, they are like whirling octopus serving customers, and they do it with good humour, bantering with regulars, enjoying the success of seeing returning customers, before going again.

With 10% of profits going to the Greggs Foundation to help fund Breakfast Clubs for children and over £1m raised annually for Children in Need, the vegan pastry has helped change the perception of Greggs, but fundamentally it’s a people business, about delivering service, experience and the community it operates.

Takeaway: So, focused on a simple, core value proposition – reasonable quality food at reasonable prices, consistently produced and scaled – but the fundamental premise is to make customer experience the brand differentiator.

Many takeout food companies are head-on competition to Greggs, but due to its focused marketing strategies highlighting choice, quality, nutrition & easy access, the company is able to create sustainable advantage.

Changing lifestyles, changing eating habits and increasing health awareness factors are affecting the growth of the companies in this industry. Greggs has set its strategy from a customer’s point of view and with customer-based insights, to ensure the business model is as robust as it can be.

Adopt Greggs’ agile approach to strategy and business model thinking, to focus on the horizon and hold your vision. Do something everyday to move your business forward, and that makes you stand out from the crowd. A sheep has never stood out from another sheep, so don’t follow the herd blindly. People will take notice.

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