Sausage roll chaos: Greggs forced to go cash-only and some close due to payment issues

Wednesday 20 March 2024 9:13 am

Chaos unfolded across franchises of the UK’s favourite chain bakery Greggs this morning, after a payment issue forced them to go cash only.

Prospective Greggs sausage roll consumers in London, London, Newcastle and Cardiff faced shuttered local stores, according to an LBC report.

Other sources, including the BBC, said it was an IT issue at tills causing the issue.

Some have said the stores were open but only accepting cash payments.

This comes as almost £2 of every £100 spent in UK hospitality is being blown on cheap baked goods at Greggs and the firm recently announced plans to open between 140 and 160 net new shops in 2024.

Sales across its 2,000 stores were up 13.7 per cent for 2023, which the firm credited to late night trading and a partnership with Uber Eats. 

The news comes just days after supermarket giant Sainsbury’s hit technical issues over the weekend that meant it could not fulfil the “vast majority” of online grocery deliveries.

A Greggs spokesperson said: “We have now resolved the technical issue that affected tills in some of our shops earlier this morning.

“The majority of shops affected are now able to take card and cash payments again and we expect the issue to be fully resolved shortly and we apologise for the inconvenience this may have caused to our customers.”

The bakery giant did not give any additional explanation for the issues.

Max Watson, retail technology Lead at Mindera, a software technology firm that has worked with retail giants such as Dunelm, Hut Group and Selfridges, said the news symptomatic of a need for a more “robust” approach to digital transformation from retailers.

“Alongside ensuring robust payments technologies, retailers should increase attention on testing when undergoing software updates or transitioning to automated approaches,” he said.

“To avoid losing customer goodwill in what is one of the most competitive markets in the UK, companies must double down on investment in IT infrastructures and adopt more agile processes now to ensure they do not fall victim to similar issues in the future,” he added.