Some sushi with that sausage roll? Greggs shows benefits of going healthy

Profits and sales are growing handily thanks to the popularity of the health-conscious Balanced Choice range. That's good for Greggs. It might be good for Britain too

Traditional fare from Greggs, but healthy food is where the action is at the chain (Mark Pinder)

Greggs the baker in the vanguard of the healthy eating movement? Whatever next?

This is the bakery whose sausage rolls have become something close to a national institution.

After a three-month spell in hospital just about the first thing I did after re-introducing myself to my family was to take a trip to our local branch so I could have one. Covered in ketchup.

In an uncertain world they’re a source of comfort. So bad yet so very good.

But now the chain that makes them seems to want to become a poor man’s Holland & Barrett. Say it ain’t so!

It isn’t quite like that. The sausage rolls are still there, in all their greasy glory. The company was at pains to point out, upon the release of its first-half numbers, that it still sells gazillions of the things. And it still sells plenty of bacon sandwiches at breakfast time too. Priced at £2 with a coffee. You’d be lucky to just get the drink for that at Costa.

But the healthy stuff – sold under the Balanced Choice brand – is where the action is. Soups, salads, fruit pots and porridge are going great guns, contributing to a 3.8 per cent increase in first-half sales at stores that have been open for at least a year, and a 15.7 per cent jump in pre tax profits to £29.4m.

Greggs is a business that has had its difficulties. A couple of years ago it put new openings on hold after a tough 2013, weighed down by poor sales, falling profits, and a strategic pivot towards “food on the go”.

That pivot has worked. Cottoning on to the demands of a more health conscious customer base is also paying off. It seems almost sacrilegious to say it but next to those sausage rolls you’ll now find falafel and hummus and chicken teriyaki noodles too. Whatever next? Sushi? Well, erm, yes actually that might find its way on to the menu too before long. And why not?

In the meantime, expanding the chain is back on the agenda with 70 net new stores adding to the estate during the year.

While those sausage rolls made the chain's name, and are great as a treat, perhaps we should be celebrating the customer trend that Greggs has latched on to with such success. Amid continuing concerns about an obesity epidemic it might be good for the country. A healthy development indeed.