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EVERYONE loves a Greggs – but with prices on the rise, superfan Tony Collins reveals how he hardly EVER pays full price for his order.
Meter technician Tony, 62, takes a trip to his local Greggs an impressive five or six times a week to pick up breakfast or lunch.
Tony is from Newcastle, the city known as the “Greggs capital” of the UK, and he’s been picking up steak bakes, baguettes and pasties for decades from his local stores.
“All the lasses know me there,” he said. “As soon as I come in, they know what my order is.
“I usually get a breakfast deal, where I get a bacon baguette with brown sauce and a latte.
“Or at dinner time I’ll get the meal deal, which is usually a toasted ham and cheese baguette, a sandwich, a sweet treat and a drink.
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“I’m a massive fan.”
Tony has four golden rules for getting the best deals at the chain – and he’s shared them with The Sun so that you can get your treats for less too.
He reckons he “easily” saves at least £200 a year using these tips.
To find your nearest Greggs, use the chain’s store locator tool – and fans will be pleased to hear 50 new branches opening soon will be added to the list.
His money saving tips will come in handy as rocketing inflation, which has now hit a 40-year high of 9%, has caused Greggs to hike prices.
As inflation soars, the price of everyday essentials goes up – and even Greggs’ customers are feeling the pinch.
Earlier this year, the price of some of its grub, like sausage rolls, went up by as much as 10p.
Last month, the chain’s boss said prices of some items are set increase AGAIN by as much as 10%.
It didn’t confirm exactly which products would be affected, but if the price of a sausage roll rises by 10% again, the price of the pastry snack would go from £1.25 to roughly £1.38.
Here are Tony’ s tip for getting the best deals:
If you’re a Greggs fan, you might know that you can use the Too Good To Go app to get a load of treats at a big discount.
The app works by letting shops list any excess food they have that would otherwise be thrown away.
Shoppers can pick up a “mystery” bag of these goodies for much less than their usual sale price – and Tony has bagged himself some mega bargains.
“A couple of weeks ago, I reserved a Greggs bag – I got three steak bakes, three baguettes, three sausage rolls, two cookies and a couple of doughnuts all for £2.95.”
At full price, this would have cost Tony roughly £25 – saving him £22.05.
While you never know what you’re going to get in the mystery bag, Tony has a secret tip to getting the best grub using the app.
“You can ‘favourite’ key locations in the app.
“I find that heading to branches near industrial or office areas at the weekend will get you the best deals.
“That’s because there aren’t as many people going there – on weekdays, it’s usually workers going on their lunch breaks.
“Usually you can get bags full of food the shops haven’t been able to sell.”
Greggs has outlet stores that sell baked goods at knockdown prices, usually because they’re a day old.
The chain insists the food is still fresh – and a percentage of the profits from these outlets goes to charity.
Tony says there’s one of these stores just 20 minutes away from where he lives, and he heads there to get favourite treats up to 20% cheaper.
“I go two or three times a week – how much money you save depends on what you buy, but I usually save around £5.”
There are a number of ways you can get free grub at Greggs – but you’ll need to download the chain’s app to take advantage of these offers.
Tony said: “Definitely download the app – you get rewards for everything you buy.”
Using the app can make your birthday extra special by getting a free sweet treat.
All you need to do is download the Greggs app via Google Play or the App Store, and fill out your date of birth as part of the registration process.
The offer will land in the deals section of the app when it’s your birthday – you’ll get a code that you’ll then have to show to your server at your local Greggs branch.
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Meanwhile, at Christmas Greggs gave away 50,000 free festive bakes and vegan festive bakes to get fans in the spirit.
And one ex-employee has revealed how staff are allowed to offer customers a freebie if they’re genuinely disappointed with the food available.
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