Greggs

[Traviis]

Apparently Greggs are going to trial opening 20 stores. I only know this from Twitter, where they were being accused of killing NHS staff by this action.

I'm baffled. How are Greggs any worse to the other food outlets that are still open and never closed? Secondly, how else are we going to move on from the current situation without trialling new ways of businesses operating?

But they're opening 20 as a trial so hopefully those 20 will have a criteria EG the drive through ones (I need a drive through Greggs in my life!!) larger ones, ones with space for staff to move around safely and customers to queue 2m apart. If this goes smoothly then they'll look around at other stores that they can safely open. If there's chaos then they might hold back for a few weeks.

Bad idea at the moment - the shops and kitchens are tiny. They were never designed with social distancing in mind. I think this is very unfair on the staff, for a product that we don't really need right now. If they can, I think they should wait a while.

Again, I can't see the difference between Greggs and other bakeries....

What I have learned from this thread though is that there is such a thing as a drive through Greggs. We learn something new every day!

Why are people saying nobody needs Greggs food? Of course nobody needs it, but you can say that about pretty much any other food. Is this about snobbery?

Why are people saying nobody needs Greggs food? Of course nobody needs it, but you can say that about pretty much any other food. Is this about snobbery?

No, it's about the Lockdown Olympics. People going for the Suffering Gold for the longest period living on bread and water and not leaving the house.

It'll give the doomsayers something new to focus on. This week it's B and Q that are going to cause a surge in infections, next it'll be Greggs

I don't tend to use Greggs but I think the more businesses that can get back to some form of normality the better. They provide jobs and contribute to the economy. Obviously they have to operate in as safe a manner as possible when it comes to social distancing but we can't lockdown the entire population with everyone under permanent house arrest.

too many people have let their health anxiety morph into obsessive paranoia. Before anyone tries it on, I have loved ones who are vulnerable, as does just about everyone.

Perhaps there is concern that the NHS workers will be killed by eating too much pastry.

It's probably not about snobbery, it's about the folk who wish they lived in China, where they did lockdown 'properly'. The people who believe we should eat only stale bread (stale because we're only allowed to go to the shops once a fortnight) and should not leave the house ever lest we kill everyone we see. Looking out the window is not advised, in case the Corona comes in, unless of course, you suspect your neighbour of making a journey you deem unnecessary, in which case you should immediately log it with 101. (Once they get the first taste of killing, who knows where it'll end?)

We had DD's birthday a couple of weeks ago, and family sent gifts. Having read threads on here, I apologised to the postman for him having to deliver parcels and he told me he'd much rather be out working than stuck in the house. As did the woman who served me at Morrison's.

No one needs a pasty. No one needs compost or yarn or chocolate or garden toys. But if they can be supplied relatively safely, why shouldn't these businesses continue to try to eke out a living in an economy that is rapidly tanking? People die in a recession too.

Having worked in both Greggs and ASDA in the past in the stores I worked in (small Greggs store too) then social distancing in Greggs would have been a lot easier than in ASDA. Especially now they take card payments

In my village the chippy is open with a distanced queue and one person going in at a time. The bakery and butchers are doing the same. So why not Greggs?

Bakerys,green grocers,butchers posh food shops - fine according to mumsnet

Greggs - killing all britons by opening according to mumsnet

The clue is in the word trial, Gregg's closed as they couldn't guarantee the safety of customers/staff etc and are going to trial opening shops with social distancing in place.

Thinking about 'us' isn't wanting a sausage roll! It's not wanting to pay billions in furloughed wages from the tax purse unnecessarily!
The reason many shut when not required was terror of being 'shamed' on social media and having your brand destroyed.

I’d kill for a Greggs sausage roll right about now!

Admittedly I live in a tiny town but the local cafe/deli is opening next week for takeaway and delivery. I don't see any difference. Each open shop has tape 6ft markings on the pavement outside to enable people to queue sensibly. I think the reason a lot of the big chains shut e.g. McDonald's was for fear of encouraging unnessary journeys.

They have been shut for 5 weeks now , time to start opening food places .

Our local bakery is reopening. I don't see any difference to Greggs. They will no doubt have health and safety risk assessments at work like all businesses that are trying to get back to some kind of normal. I've gone back to work and dp is soon. Everything has changed but we have adapted. We have less clients at the moment which is fine as we're on a rota anyway so only a quarter of the staff on site at a time. Weeks of social distancing seems to have trained everyone.

I need Gregg's sausage rolls and stottie cakes. I wonder if they'll be back on Deliveroo?

If I was running Gregg's I would stop letting people inside and do service at the door giving the staff the whole shop to socially distance in.

I'm just not sure how many people a Gregg's breakfast is an essential journey for.

I think Greggs are a socially responsible company who will do the right things like use 2 metre tape markings and provide protection for their workers.

I don’t see why they shouldn’t open like other take-aways.

We need to get out of this lockdown slowly and carefully so this seems a good idea to me.

It’s not like everything can re-open in June and CV is gone and everything is happy again. If we want businesses to stay shut until CV is gone we’ll be talking years and none of those businesses will survive, none.

@helpfulperson a breakfast isn't an essential journey no, but a loaf of bread from a greggs within walking distance of my house could be.

They are looking at outlets near stations etc. I think people forget if they are self isolating or wfh that there are still lots of people having to travel to work out of the home- not just front line staff. Greggs will have been risk assessing this for weeks now. We need to take baby steps and trial new service models now so we are better prepared for the reopening of the UK

I worked in Greggs years ago as a student and the store was tiny, as most Greggs stores I have experienced are. We often had queues right out of the door with at least 15-20 people inside the store at any given time. On busy weekend days we had six staff members working at a time plus the delivery guy would come in at the end of the day.

There’s no way we could have practised safe social distancing, for starters two of us were always side by side with arms touching on the tills! Then there’d be someone pottering around sorting the ovens and breakfasts behind us. It just isn’t possible, not in the same way supermarket staff sit alone and can stack shelves alone.

If they put markings down on the floor to keep people 2m apart I’d guess only two or three customers would be allowed in at a time and I’m guessing it will be down to staff to police this unless Greggs are thinking spur hiring security. We had some fairly nasty customers at times, I wouldn’t have wanted to tell them they had to queue 2m apart and only come into the store alone.