Greggs: More Than Meats the Pie

Documentary going behind the scenes of high-street bakery chain Greggs, founded in the 1930s and now trading from more than 1,670 retail outlets across the UK. Filmed over a year, the programme follows key staff members from store front to boardroom and secret tasting labs, as they prepare for big changes on the horizon. Greggs' plans to go upmarket are under way, with designer Phil introducing new interiors and the master bakers whipping up new delicacies. But retail development manager Alison is feeling the pressure. She has just two months to give 10 bakeries a makeover - will it all be worth it?

The three months before Christmas are the busiest for Greggs, with Southampton shop manager Alan and head of sandwiches Paul getting into the Halloween spirit, while for the all-female branch at Gateshead it's a case of kit-off rather than bake-off as they bare all for a cheeky calendar shoot. But it isn't all fun and games. A Children in Need crisis looms when a gingerbread Pudsey Bear is found to contain dodgy E numbers, and Stratford worker Claudette gets an eyeful when a suspected shoplifter tries to prove his innocence by stripping off inside the store.

Tonight’s episode is all about last summer’s Olympics. Pasties, iced buns and jam tarts may not seem like obvious Olympian fare. Certainly the army has doubts, because they turn the Greggs driver away from the new Stratford branch. “It would be easier to get a nuclear bomb into the place, wouldn’t it? Than a bloody doughnut!” despairs the transport administrator. Other crises: a computer crashes, a WI branch visits and thousands of doughnuts mysteriously deflate.

An overnight fire brings production to a halt in Newcastle, where every one of the company's pastries and sausage rolls is made, forcing the bosses to come up with an unprecedented solution. Temperatures rise in Whitehall as Greggs' then boss Ken McKeikan leads a protest against the so-called `pasty tax' - the Government's intention to add 20 per cent VAT to all hot takeaway foods - and problematic pigeons plague a Southend-on-Sea branch.

The recession hits, prompting staff to go the extra mile to keep spirits high and pull in profits. Greggs takes over a nightclub in Canterbury, where sausage rolls and doughnuts prove popular with peckish partygoers, while staff in Nottingham work late to provide drunken revellers with sobering snacks. Meanwhile, chief executive Ken McKeikan swaps the boardroom for the bakery as he temporarily joins the production line, a spooky seance provides food for thought in Essex and members of the Brighton branch enjoy a fun night out.