Yahoo Finance Greggs Pasties To Fuel Troops In Tasty Trial
The country's biggest baker will supply a military base in Germany with its Cornish pasties and sausage rolls, in a trial which it hopes will be rolled out globally.
Greggs (Other OTC: GGGSF.PK - news) has signed a 12-week deal with the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (Naafi), the armed forces caterer, to supply frozen food to the British military base in Gutersloh, Germany.
The deal was signed after troops were asked what food they missed most from home, and Greggs topped the list.
Specially-trained Naafi personnel will make the baked goods, which will be displayed in a Greggs-branded counter.
The chain, which has more UK stores than McDonald's, sells sandwiches, savouries, bread, cakes and pastries to more than six million customers a week.
This deal offers it an important new income after the tough economic conditions – and poor summer weather - hit sales.
The baker also launched, and subsequently expanded, a range of frozen products available in Iceland supermarkets, and is trialling franchise stores in motorway service stations.
Greggs' chief executive Ken McMeikan, a former Tesco (LSE: TSCO.L - news) and Sainsbury (LSE: SBRY.L - news) executive and Royal Navy veteran, said the trial could be rolled out globally.
"We are really pleased to be making our savouries accessible to our troops in Germany, and, depending on the success of the trial, more widely available for our armed forces personnel around the world," he said.
Naafi's Mike Chapman added: "We are delighted to be able to bring customers the taste of home that they have been asking for."
The organisation currently serves Britain's military in Afghanistan, Ascension, Brunei, Germany, Gibraltar, the Falkland Islands and Northern Ireland, and on-board Royal Navy ships.
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