How much appetite is there for a late-night Greggs?

Greggs has been on a roll lately. The budget bakery brand’s most recent results revealed that sales had jumped 23% in 2022 – and just this week, it won the right to trade until 2am at its Leicester Square flagship store. It’s news that comes following the resolution of a conflict with Westminster City Council over fears that the expanded opening hours might spark antisocial behaviour.

But data from YouGov BrandIndex suggests that the idea of late-night steak bakes is appealing to some customers. Between 15 May – the day before Greggs announced the news – and 21 May, Buzz scores (which ask consumers whether they have heard anything positive or negative about a brand) rose from 7.5 to 12.5 (+5.0), while Impression scores (a measure of overall sentiment) jumped from 27.1 to 38.3 (+11.2).

Value for Money scores (an important metric for a brand pitching more affordable products) also saw an increase from 29.8 to 36.9 (+7.1), while Recommend scores went from 23.2 to 28.1 (+4.9). Customers, then, may well appreciate the opportunity to buy a vegan sausage roll or a donut after an evening at the cinema or the theatre. This even appears to have had an impact on Consideration scores, which improved 5.7 points from 32.1 to 37.8 over the same period.

So while late-night baked goods might seem counterintuitive, the public appear open to the idea: Index scores, which measure overall brand health, rose from 21.4 to 27.1 (+5.7) between 15 – 21 May. Will there be demand for moonlit melts and bedtime baguettes beyond Leicester Square? At this point, we can’t say – but Greggs, as an apparently stable and improving business at a time when many others are tightening belts and reducing headcount, may have earned the right to experiment a little.

This article originally appeared in City A.M.