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28 April 2020, 12:29 | Updated: 28 April 2020, 14:52
Greggs is the latest restaurant to test opening stores as part of a ‘controlled trial’ during the lockdown, following KFC, Burger King and Nando’s.
Greggs has announced its plans to re-open some of their stores during the UK coronavirus lockdown, following in the footsteps of other eateries KFC, Burger King and Nando’s.
The high-street food-chain is set to open up 20 stores in a ‘controlled trial’ after the pandemic saw them close all 2,050 of their bakeries.
Greggs chief executive Roger Whiteside explained he hoped the trial would help the business understand what changes need to be made to comply with social distancing measures.
The trial will see the restaurant open for takeaway and delivery only and involve a limited product range, in the hopes that 700 stores including 150 franchise shops, would open from June 8th.
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He said: "We expect it will only be possible to open this many shops if the government has taken a first step in relaxing the lockdown, which could be to open the schools.
“This timing may change depending on future government announcements.”
But which stores are opening first?
Boris Johnson’s address to the nation on coronavirus
To keep everyone as safe as possible we’ve made the difficult decision to close all of our shops on Tuesday 24th March. Read our full statement below: pic.twitter.com/de0QNBHkFT
— Greggs (@GreggsOfficial) March 23, 2020
The stores that are set to be open as part of the trial will all be in the Newcastle area.
If the trial goes to plan, the chief executive went on to explain he intends to have all 2,050 chains open again by July 1.
However, this is subject to the government’s announcements on the lockdown and restrictions on opening non-essential shops.
A Greggs spokeswoman added: "We want to play our part in getting the nation back up and running again, so we are planning to conduct a limited trial with volunteers to explore how we can reopen our shops with new measures in place that keep our colleagues and customers as safe as we can when we reopen at scale."
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