Coursework Information for Students :
As a well-known high street retailer, we receive many requests every week from students who are researching Greggs as part of their studies. It is not possible for us to reply individually to such a large number of requests. Therefore this part of our website is designed to provide more details about Greggs plc, which may be helpful to students undertaking research.
Throughout the website you will find various sections which may interest students. In particular we would draw your attention to the following:
These sections explain how the business has grown, our ambition, our current strategy and how our core values drive our decision-making.
Organisation and Resource:
Greggs plc has a decentralised structure with individual divisions/regions being the primary business units. The Greggs brand has eight Divisions and Bakers Oven, three regions. Each division/region is an individual profit centre and this drives local ownership and control.
Greggs plc is vertically integrated. With the exception of branded soft drinks, soup and crisps, nearly all products are made, by ourselves. Economies of scale are created through our Central Savouries Production Plant at Balliol Park, North Tyneside, which supplies savouries to a number of divisions around the UK. We also have a central distribution depot (GDS) which supplies a range of products, ingredients and consumables to both brands in the south of the country.
Technical excellence is provided through The Group Technical Centre (GTC) which oversees New Product Development. This state of the art facility was built in 2000 to constantly develop and test new products, in addition to providing assistance to Divisions looking to improve products for their region. This enables Greggs plc to maintain complete control over all aspects of our products – we source our ingredients from reputable suppliers, and provide the customer with quality products.
Management Structure
Whilst our structure chart depicts a hierarchical structure, this simply reflects how the business is organised. In practice, we operate a combined matrix and hierarchical structure.
Click ‘structural overview’ to see schematic of our structure
At the most Senior level, within Head Office, is the
Group Managing Director
Group Finance Director
Group Personnel Director
Group Marketing Director
Group Purchasing Director
Group Production Director
Group Property Director
Managing Director of Bakers Oven.
These Directors, along with the Divisional Managing Directors, are the main strategic decision making group for the business.
In addition, there are a number of cross-functional teams comprising representatives from across the divisions at various levels. These groups are tasked with individual projects on behalf of the business as a whole e.g the shop design group and the customer contact group. This ensures that strategic decision-making is informed by those closest to the day-to-day business, and enables employees throughout the business to become involved in strategic level projects.
Quality Assurance
In our business quality assurance is a top priority. We embrace Continuous Improvement principles throughout all divisions, and our standards are rigorously monitored and reviewed on a regular basis. We conduct regular Health & Safety audits, Food Safety audits and operate a full risk management system throughout the business. This is fundamental in providing the customer with excellent, high quality products, in the safest environment possible.
Our Brands
Protecting and enhancing the Greggs and Bakers Oven brands is critical to our success. Our brands reflect ‘Great Taste Great Value’ products, served by friendly, helpful staff in convenient locations.
The Greggs brand was further enhanced in 2004 with the launch of our major new advertising and brand building campaign. This centred on the strap-line “it’s the way we bake it that makes it”. The main focus was to re-affirm our heritage as traditional bakers. We believe customers recognise this to be a positive attribute of the brand which differentiates us from our competitors..
Business Growth and Development
Our targets are set out in the Annual Report and Accounts, which can be downloaded from the financial section of the website:
“Our target is to achieve a turnover of £1 billion by 2010 through continued core growth and acquisition of new units, taking us to over 1,700 shops.”
Each division has its own shop acquisition plans, which are co-ordinated centrally to ensure that we are continuously working towards our 2010 target.
For more financial information, please click ‘Investors’ to be directed to this section.
