I’m a Greggs worker – here’s why we won’t offer you ketchup on your bacon roll
A GREGGS bakery worker has revealed why staff might baulk at serving up ketchup for your morning bacon roll.
The fast food firm appears to have a strict policy when it comes to doling out the most popular condiments.
A keen customer has told social media site Reddit of his mission to discover just why he gets snubbed when asking for “ketchup” at Greggs.
A staff member told him they were bound to “correct” consumers – and check that when they ask for “ketchup” they do actually mean red sauce.
The stance is thought to be in place across the company’s 2,300 UK outlets, including those in not only the capital London but also major cities such as Bristol, Glasgow, Lancaster and Newcastle.
There have been more than 1,500 comments in response to the Reddit revelation.
Some agreed Greggs employees choose, for convenience, “red or brown sauce?” as a response rather than the longer “Heinz Ketchup or HP sauce?”.
The debate kicked off after a bakery fan wondered: “Greggs employees, are you explicitly told never to use the word ‘ketchup’?
“I frequently ask for ketchup only to be ‘corrected’ or asked to confirm I want red sauce.
“I initially wondered if it was a legal thing around not being able to call it ketchup, but I can see that it’s coming out of Heinz Ketchup bottles.
“It’s not a regional thing – I’ve had the same experience in Bristol, Manchester, Lancaster, Newcastle and Glasgow.”
And the query prompted clarification from someone saying they currently worked for Greggs, volunteering: “My understanding is that it’s for quick service and efficient delivery.
“Red or brown sauce? Faster to say than Heinz ketchup or HP Sauce? As with all service for Greggs. Repeat, repeat, repeat.
“This helps (apparently) to ensure the customer has the best and quickest experience.”
Another Reddit reader saying they were employed by Greggs agreed, adding: “There are rules we need to follow when serving and one of them is to always ask, ‘Red or brown sauce?’
“This is to do with allergens and s*** and generally we should be asking this with every single order.
“Not the red or brown sauce thing, but repeating it – dunno, just easier to avoid mistakes being made by saying ‘Red sauce or brown sauce’.”
Yet not everyone appeared happy about the approach.
One commenter posted: “This makes so little sense to me because where I grew up red sauce just wasn’t a phrase.
‘People could obviously work out that it meant, but it seems a risk to use a non-common phrase for the name of a product that is literally on the bottle.”
Another said: “I’ve noticed this too in Nottingham! They ask if I want red or brown and I always respond with ‘ketchup’ – maybe I’m petty but I can’t bring myself to call it ‘red sauce’.”
Yet there was also the suggestion: “Ketchup is the new-fangled American term that has only began creeping in over recent years.
“It was always red sauce or tomato sauce.”
Greggs announced plans last week for its first stores to be open 24 hours a day, in Liverpool as well as Canterbury in Kent.
A fan of the firm told The Sun about what he believes to be the best value products they have to offer.
Another devotee is so keen on their baked goods, he pimped his car in tribute – while a newly-married couple went with Greggs vegan sausage rolls as a replacement for a wedding cake.
A Greggs tote bag has been made available for sale at Primark, while a recent Channel 5 TV series promised to uncover some of the company’s cooking secrets.
The company increased the cost of its sausage rolls in January, the fourth price rise in a year.
An employee took to TikTok last year to explain why the rolls are often not hot, to customers’ dissatisfaction.