Popular UK bakery chain Gregg’s may soon be launching vegan steak bakes — and the Internet can’t handle it.
The rumor — shared by a member of the Vegan Food UK Facebook group — comes after the chain’s wildly successful vegan sausage roll launch earlier this year.
“We have it on good authority that certain Gregg’s Stores in the UK are already preparing for the launch of the Vegan Steak Bake,” the post, now with more than 3,000 likes, read.
“By the looks of it, it’s going to come before Christmas, but we will have to wait and see.”
Vegan and Viral
Greggs vegan sausage roll shattered sales expectations.
The launch became an instant social media hit and customers gave it high praise. The launch was so successful it pushed the bakery chain over £1billion in sales for the first time ever. Total sales for the chain jumped more than 14 percent after the launch.
The vegan sausage wasn’t without its critics, though, notably, television personality Piers Morgan. “Why would anyone eat that?” he asked after he took a bite and then spit the sausage into a trash bin on national television.
But his co-hosts, and consumers, seem to disagree with Morgan, as sales continue to spike for the vegan roll. And the steak bake is likely to experience the same surge in sales.
The move is consistent with an interview CEO Roger Whiteside gave in July. He said Greggs would expand its vegan offerings.
Whiteside told the Evening Standard, “many customers are demanding more non-meat products and we want to offer more choices.”
“It took us a couple of years to perfect our vegan sausage rolls, and I can now reveal our staff are working hard in our testing kitchens to make new meat and dairy-free products suitable for vegans,” he continued. “The range will get wider in the future.”
The news comes as vegan items are popping up at a growing number of mainstream restaurants and bakeries. In the U.S., popular breakfast chain Dunkin’ just launched a vegan sausage option from Beyond Meat. The chain worked with rapper Snoop Dogg to promote the new menu option. He served the sausages to unexpecting customers in a promotional spot launched last week.
