UK’s Greggs devises recipes for possible Brexit food shortage

Bloomberg

Greggs PLC has defied the decline of the UK’s retail districts with a popular range of cheap pastry products. Now it’s facing a new threat from a possible no-deal Brexit.
The largest bakery chain in the UK is preparing to alter its recipes if its supply of perishable ingredients such as lettuce and tomatoes is delayed by a disorderly departure from the European Union. It’s also stockpiling longer-lasting ingredients such as bacon and tuna.
If there are any disruptions at ports, “we’ll be able to last a few days and then hopefully it will settle down,” Chief Executive Officer Roger Whiteside said on a call with reporters as the company reported quarterly sales in line with analysts’ expectations. “Should there be any short-term pressures on some ingredients then there are alternative recipe suggestions we can fall back to.”
Greggs has already tried to reduce its dependency on European suppliers, sourcing more of its cheese and sugar from UK-based companies.

British factories extend slump amid Brexit row
Bloomberg

UK manufacturing extended its longest slump since 2009 in September as even renewed stockpiling for Brexit didn’t foster a return to growth.
While the pace of the contraction slowed, measures of new orders and output continued to fall, while employment dropped at the fastest pace in more-than five years, IHS Markit said.
The domestic market was particularly weak in the month, Markit said, although there were also reports that foreign demand was hurt by “Brexit uncertainty and clients routing supply chains away from the UK.”
The overall decline came despite firms boosting stockpiles as the October 31 Brexit deadline approaches, actions that boosted the sector earlier in the year. Figures published showed the UK economy experienced major distortions in the second quarter after firms ran down stockpiled goods from the run-up to the original March 29 Brexit deadline.