LONDON - British baker and fast food chain Greggs is facing cost inflation across its business of 6% to 7% in 2022 due to the rising cost of raw materials, energy and staff, its boss said on Tuesday.
Chief Executive Roger Whiteside told Reuters Greggs was having to deal with raw material price increases "right across the board, all food stuffs."
He noted commodity pricing was already rising at the back end of 2021 as the world started to move out of COVID. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has exacerbated the situation as both are huge producers of commodities such as wheat, corn and sunflower oil.
"All the proteins, all the cereals, all the oils - everything's going up in price," said Whiteside.
Some 29% of Greggs' total costs are in food ingredients. Its biggest cost is labour.
Whiteside said Greggs had raised prices for consumers at the beginning of 2022 but not since then.
"We're going to have to keep it under review in the balance of the year and see how the market develops," he said.
