On this day in vegan history · January 3, 2019
Greggs Puts Quorn in Its Sausage Roll
A high-street bakery chain best known for meat pastries put a vegan sausage roll in 950 shops for Veganuary, and Britain could not stop arguing about it or buying it.
The facts
- Launch date
- 3 January 2019
- Stores
- 950 Greggs shops nationwide
- Filling
- Quorn mycoprotein, in the same flaky pastry as the original
- Long-term result
- Became one of Greggs' five best-selling products
On 3 January 2019, Greggs launched a vegan version of its signature sausage roll, swapping pork for a Quorn mycoprotein filling wrapped in the same flaky pastry, in 950 stores across the UK. The launch was timed to Veganuary, and demand outstripped supply almost immediately: the Greggs at Westminster underground station sold out within hours of opening, and shops in London and beyond ran dry within days. Greggs said the reaction was bigger than it had planned for. The roll went on to become one of the company's five best-selling products.
In their words
The day in the words of the people who were there. Every quote is verbatim, and every source links out so you can check it.
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Like many food retailers we have seen increasing demand for vegetarian and vegan products.
Roger Whiteside, chief executive at Greggs, on the launch, January 2019
Source: Food and Drink Technology -
It became one of the company's five best-selling products, and contributed to a 50% increase in their profits.
Wikipedia, describing the roll's business impact
Source: Wikipedia
Why it still matters
It proved a mainstream, meat-first high-street chain could sell a vegan product on taste and convenience rather than virtue, and that the demand for it was real, not niche.
Sources
This history is still being written.
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