Greggs is to open 63 new branches by the end of the year under expansion plans that will pave the way for 500 new jobs.
The bakery chain announced the update in its interim results on Tuesday, revealing pre-tax profits for the year hit £55.5million after businesses were given the green light to trade again.
The high street bakery business said its figures for the 26 weeks to July 3, compared with a £65.2million loss for the same period last year at the height of pandemic restrictions.
The Newcastle-based chain said it now expects full-year profits to be "slightly ahead" of previous predictions after its most recent sales made gains against pre-pandemic levels.
Forty-eight new Greggs branches opened in the first half of 2021, although 11 were shut down for good.
The business said it anticipates 100 net new shop openings in 2021, creating 500 new retail roles in second half of the year.
Seventy per cent of openings in the first half were in car-accessed locations such as roadsides, petrol stations, retail parks and supermarkets - we will update this story when we have a full list of new locations.
Home delivery was expedited during mandatory closures, with Greggs’ delivery service now available in 837 stores.
The business is also due to launch a new 'Vegan Sausage, Bean & Cheeze Melt' on August 5.
Roger Whiteside, chief executive of Greggs, said: "Greggs once again showed its resilience in a challenging first half, emerging from the lockdown months in a strong position and rebuilding sales as social restrictions were progressively relaxed.
"We continue to make good progress with our strategic priorities, growing the shop estate and investing in our digital capabilities to compete in all channels and parts of our market.
"Whilst there continue to be general uncertainties in the market, given our recent performance we now expect full-year profit to be slightly ahead of our previous expectation."
