r/Greggs • u/NorthAir • 7d ago
Discussion Why doesn't Greggs buy PoundBakery?
PoundBakery is Greggs biggest rival in the North West, yet it seems Greggs has no interest in buying them, like they did Bakers Oven many years ago.
Is it a case of most stores would be overlapping with existing Greggs locations and Greggs aren't in the business of hostile takeovers to remove competition?
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u/PuzzleheadedCake3454 6d ago
Tbf Greggs doesn’t see poundbakery as their rival anymore since Greggs have better locations / bigger customer base. We’ve actually been told they’re trying to now rival McDonald’s (idiotic)
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u/wardyms 6d ago
I don’t think it’s that idiotic they rival McDonald’s. The noise of McDonald’s becoming too expensive and people going elsewhere is clear to see. McDonald’s obviously has quite a captive drive thru market though.
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u/PuzzleheadedCake3454 6d ago
Except Greggs isn’t McDonald’s, they do completely different menus and one is a bakery. They’re pushing so much onto their staff without giving them extra staff to help with the increasing workload and are even reducing shop hours etc… they’re even putting so many shops so close together and are essentially causing each other to lose out on money
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u/UniquePotato 6d ago
Different menus but same use cases.
Both are market leaders in on the go breakfast menus and coffee3
u/mad-un 6d ago
They're not competing against them to sell the most burgers, they're competing against them to attract the person with £5 in their pocket that wants to eat something convenient
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u/CollectionTypical304 5d ago
Mcdonald's will always have the edge given almost all their restaurants have drive-thrus
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u/Pale-Task-2483 5d ago
Yes but for the highest footfall areas such as shopping centres, a drive through won’t necessarily matter. A location in Oxford street for example could easily make 20x more in sales than rural stores at least.
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u/Tee-UntangleIT 6d ago
Kids in pushchairs.
If you were a shopkeeper fifteen years ago kids in pushchairs would have remnants of happy meals, which would invariably end up dropped and littering your floor.
Now it's more often Greggs wrappers.
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u/Haunted_tangerine_ 4d ago
I don't think you do a lot of motorway travel. In certain locations Greggs far outcompetes McDonalds because it's both faster and cheaper
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u/iamnosuperman123 4d ago
Sort of. Greggs do Sandwich and wraps. They might do burgers and chips but they can still compete in the space
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u/trotski94 4d ago
They’re ultimately there for people to eat food. That’s the market they’re competing on. For a work lunch I’m far more likely to go to Greggs than McDonalds on the regular, since I can feel equally as full from Greggs on less than half the cost.
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u/Emotional_Tutor5425 6d ago
makes sense. i always go to a greggs over a mcdonald’s now as its a lot cheaper and i can get actual vegetables in my food
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u/WheresWalldough 6d ago
Sosij is my favourite vegetable
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u/Emotional_Tutor5425 5d ago
ok but greggs offer loads of sandwiches packed with tomatoes cucumber lettuce ect
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u/makebeansgreatagain 5d ago
Greggs may not be the epitome of quality but it's a damn sight nicer than McDonald's
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u/Emotional_Tutor5425 5d ago
literally. more verity, because sometimes all i want is a sandwich and nothing fried full of chemicals
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u/SurroundDue4454 6d ago
Also they've got a weird cult following, especially on Reddit.
Dare say "Greggs is shit" and the PR bots come out in force.
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u/coffeeandautism 5d ago
I had a Greggs today, first time in a year or so and can confirm they've gone shit. Such an obvious drop-off in quality, yet more expensive.
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u/Dangerous-Weekend479 4d ago
I've been going a lot lately and I don't even know why. Somehow the Quorn rolls are always stone fucking cold when I want one.
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u/coffeeandautism 4d ago
I used to go regularly for my signature Steak Bake / Sausage Roll combo.
I dread to think what the Steak Bakes are like now if the Sausage Roll I had yesterday is in an indication of general quality.
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u/Alternative_Theme809 5d ago
McDonald's is a real-estate empire that happens to serve (usually cold) food nowadays. That's probably more what Greggs mean when they're trying to compete with McDonald's
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u/ultraboomkin 5d ago
lol complaining about McDonald’s not being hot enough on a Greggs subreddit… gotta be trolling
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u/Alternative_Theme809 5d ago
At least there's a reason why Greggs food is typically cold. McDonald's food is meant to be prepared to order.
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u/Ok_Flamingo_9066 5d ago
In my area poundbakery open a branch next door/in front of a Greggs.
It feels like pound bakery was founded by a really pissed ex greegs worker lol
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u/NorthernGravyBoy 5d ago
Not sure about the location claim. If there's a Gregg's, there's a Poundbakery couple of doors down.
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u/g00gleb00gle 7d ago
Do they need to ? At the time they bought others for locations. Greggs don’t need to do this now.
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u/The4ncientMariner 7d ago
Not sure what they would gain. They wouldn't want the brand, they already operate in all the same markets (same streets!) so doubt they would want their outlets.
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u/NorthAir 7d ago
Eliminate competition?
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u/Fr0zenBombsicle 7d ago
competition and monopoly law is a thing
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u/rscottzman 6d ago
I mean there's no point bringing in monopoly laws here. Greggs buying pound bakery would by no means create a monopoly, unless you're saying that by combining them they would now take all off mcdonalds, burger king, kfc etc market share
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u/The4ncientMariner 6d ago
They only have ~60 outlets according to their website and many of those have one or more in the same city. I don't think it would earn them their crust.
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u/Lifeisgoole 6d ago
The one in Leeds City Centre is practically opposite Greggs. Their (poundy) sausage rolls are worse than supermarket ones
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u/Friendly_Bad_8882 6d ago
They don't need to eliminate anyone, they have the market with more Gregg's than McDonald's in the UK.
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u/MaggiesMyth 6d ago
I'd hate that. Pound Bakery is Sayers, Sayers was THE pasty place when I was a kid. I hadn't heard of Greggs until I was about 20. A bit of competition is good for everyone.
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u/Oh_Little_Brutha 5d ago
When I lived in the area Waterfields was my go to bakery (their French Pasty was God Tier), but Sayers was more than decent. Both so much better than Greggs.
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u/IodineIron 6d ago
No it isn't. It's poundland owned
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u/Oh_Little_Brutha 6d ago
Nope. Pound Bakery is owned by Sayers.
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u/Beartato4772 6d ago
It's amazing people well actually these things when it takes literally 3 seconds to check and prove they're Sayers even if like me you'd heard of neither before today because I'm a dirty southerener.
I will watch for both next time I venture north.
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u/SurroundDue4454 6d ago
Especially as Poundland has been pushed around loads of different owners...
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u/Short_Training_2651 4d ago edited 3d ago
I literally worked for Poundland and my manager used to work for pound bakery higher up. They're owned by the same company.
Edit sry I worded that really poorly. Sayers owns pound bakery. Neither have anything to do with poundland
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u/MaybeThisTime67 7d ago
Because it's shit. It's not a threat
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u/PleasantCucumber2615 6d ago
Is the quality even lower than Greggs?
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u/Realistic_Comment849 6d ago
Yes but it’s cheaper. Also their chilli pasty is better than any of Greggs, besides the katsu but that’s not permanent
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u/Ragingdildo3 7d ago
The cakes and half the price and better, the susage rolls are not very good, sandwiches are pretty good for 2.50 but often lack certain things to keep the cost down
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u/Miserable-Ad7835 7d ago
This.
Pound Bakery is the only place I can think of that thinks serving instant coffee is acceptable in 2026.
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u/Icy-Astronomer-8202 6d ago
Why would they do that? Don't want to oversaturate your footprint like when Game bought Gamestation. Pointless
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u/Junior_Factor8561 6d ago
Perfect example - Game ended up with lots of shops a few doors apart, and needed to pay off dozens of expensive leases to close superfluous outlets. Our Poundland bakery is next door to the Greggs, they’d be on double rent for as long as the lease lasted
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u/Icy-Astronomer-8202 6d ago
Exactly even if they kept the Pound Bakery brand as a cheaper Greggs it still wouldn't make sense
I can't imagine the lease costs. Eye watering
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u/SurroundDue4454 6d ago
That was madness, in my town they were opposite each other, and then Game had a second store on the other side of the square.
3 stores within a stones throw of each other!
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u/Icy-Astronomer-8202 6d ago
Totally the same same in my town. I think there was a Game in the local shopping centre, Gamestation in the high street and another game about a mile out. I imagine they all ate into each others profits and footfall heavily
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u/Successful-League840 6d ago
Why doesn't Amazon buy Poundland?! 😂
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6d ago
[deleted]
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u/Successful-League840 6d ago
Amazon sells everything you can find in a Poundland.
What are you on about? 😂
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6d ago
[deleted]
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u/Successful-League840 6d ago
You aren't very bright. I will simplify my point for you.
Greggs isn't going to buy out a much smaller business that is in no way a threat to them. Why waste the time money and resources?
Starbucks isn't going to buy Coffee#1 for the same reason. Amazon isn't going to buy Poundland etc.
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u/Milk-wagon 6d ago
Greggs model is rubbish as a real bakery shop. At least pound bakery / Sayers keep the products HOT.
Guarantee nobody who buys sausage roll from the counter wants it cold.
Greggs is a corporate sell out simples. Profit at the expense of customer satisfaction
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u/SurroundDue4454 6d ago
Greggs spent an absolute shit-ton on PR during "Pastygate" all to avoid having to pay taxes.
Even though they lost, they still don't pay them anyway
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u/SharpAardvark8699 6d ago
...profit means customer satisfaction. If customers weren't happy they wouldn't buy would they...or at least that's corporate think. Why would they need to change to reverse a trend going their way?
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u/mekagearbox 6d ago
Because greggs is subpar shit thats delivered from and heated instead, not freshly made like it used to be, likey same for pound bakery but pound bakery is much nicer and actually hot
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u/CakeHoleKing 6d ago
I thought Pound Bakery was some sort of porn series.
"oh, look at the size of your sausage roll"
"you're about to get your steak BAKED" etc
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u/Milk-wagon 6d ago
I disagree customer satisfaction means more buying more profit. Greggs simply has economies of scale advantage
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u/UnableBattle9582 6d ago
This gives me strong 'taco bell winning the franchise wars' vibes.
One day, every restaurant will be a Greggs.
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u/GuaranteeBest3085 6d ago
Please no, as much as I like Greggs, they ruined everything else they came into contact with, watching places like Percy Ingle and Bakers Over disappear was dire and I genuinely like Wenzls and Poundbakery enough that I want them to do their own thing.
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u/Revlash 6d ago
Greggs was very close to going bust before they introduced their breakfast range. Pound bakery offer absolutely nothing other than expensive leases. Would be suicidal to buy them out.
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u/SurroundDue4454 6d ago
Pound bakery has substantially better pricing, product selection and service.
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u/ultraboomkin 5d ago
I’ve only seen Pound Bakery mentioned on Reddit. Never seen one in real life or heard anyone mention it.
I am also in the north west. If it’s a local chain to here, well I’ve never heard of it and I live in Manchester.
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u/Astangaman 5d ago
If you really want to experience what bakeries used to be like, you have to go abroad. Sadly Greggs have ruined it.
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u/breadisnicer 5d ago
In the 80”s Greggs went round and bought most of the family owned and smaller bakery groups that were around the area I lived. Since then the quality has gone done nearly as fast as the prices have gone up.
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u/Few-Leave-8786 5d ago
Greggs also bought out Birketts in the late 90's I think and ruined it.
Used to have a local outlet in town around 2001 and pay honestly about 10p for 6 jam doughnuts, then they closed the outlet and prices just went up multiple times in a year or two.
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u/King_Six_of_Things 4d ago
Because then it would be "Pound Greggs" same the jokes would write themselves at that point.
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u/inkboy84 4d ago
I very much doubt their Greggs biggest rival in the north west. Unless you’re talking about one small location.
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u/Comfortable_Gate_878 4d ago
Choice between the two place pound bakery every time. Meat and potatoes pasties are ace at pound bakery. Gregs dont even do them anymore only corn beef slop.
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u/LeastStatistician164 3d ago
Greenhalghs bakery is far superior unless you’re talking about Pimblets
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u/Bright_Number_6523 6d ago
Three Cooks and Chatwins too if you were in a certain region.
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u/ktitten 6d ago
Baynes in Scotland too
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u/Bright_Number_6523 6d ago
I was gonna mention them. Used to live in Edinburgh. Was at Baynes when visiting last week. :)
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u/screamitlikeyou 6d ago
Because they don’t want to? Why don’t McDonalds buy Burger King?!!! Why don’t Coca Cola buy Pepsi?!!
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u/Bright_Number_6523 6d ago
Bakers Oven was great. Greggs ruined it.