Greggs is set to raise the price of some of its best-loved products - including sausage rolls, steak bakes and doughnuts.
Greggs' boss Roger Whiteside, who has helmed the bakery business for nine years, said prices could rise by roughly five per cent overall following an end-of-year review.
The review found that Greggs sales have been impacted by the pandemic alongside rising costs of ingredients and wages.
Sales for 2021 hit £1.23 billion – a 51 pc increase on the £811 million in 2020 when stores were hit by the pandemic.
This was also a 5.3 pc rise on sales in 2019.
However, on a two-year like-for-like basis, with new stores not included, sales were down overall by 3.3 pc.
In response to the review, price increases are expected to rise by roughly five per cent overall - which could see products ‘across the range’ rising by anything between 5p and 10p.
A Greggs spokesperson said the price increases had been ‘very much a last resort’.
The spokesperson told Bloomberg : “Ingredients and labour costs have been rising and Greggs is not immune from that.
“The company does absorb some of the cost but has put up prices by about 5-10 pence across the range.”
The spokesman added Greggs last raised its prices by a similar amount in December 2020 but said that it remained “good value”.
Meanwhile, Mr Whiteside said increased infection rates caused by Omicron have also led some stores having to close due to staff shortages and supply chain problems.
The Greggs boss told the PA news agency the impact of the variant has been as bad as the 'pingdemic', which saw people forced to self-isolate after coming into close contact with those infected.
He said: “It feels about the same as during the pingdemic.
“Stores are having to close as a result – not necessarily whole days but if you turn up in the morning and half the people aren’t there we see if we can find people in nearby shops who can help out.
“It typically means a shop might have to close early or open late, or in some cases not open at all because they can’t get the team together.”
On price rises, Mr Whiteside added: “We try and absorb as many of the cost increases that get passed to us as possible and then put through price increases where we can’t avoid it.
“We’ve done that this year – 5p here, 10p there – where we’ve simply been unable to absorb all the price increases placed on us.
“The question is, does the inflationary pressure recede or go up.”
Mr Whiteside also announced he will retire from his position in May when retail and property director Roisin Currie will take over the reins of the bakery giant.
During the year Greggs said it opened 131 new sites, including 50 franchises, and closed 28 – leaving an estate of 2,181. Of those, 1,000 are now available for delivery on Just Eat.
