A new £1.5m Greggs drive-through which will open in Greenock today will be the firm's biggest in the country.
Two dozen local people have been employed by the national bakery chain to work at the new store on the corner of Cartsburn Street and Rue End Street.
The shop is fully equipped with all of the appliances needed to serve up the popular food chain’s menu of baked goods, sandwiches and hot and cold drinks.
While the branch will initially open as a sit-in/drive-through outlet, it will also start accepting delivery orders later this month through apps such as UberEats and Just Eat.
Shop manager Andy McDonagh was brought in from Paisley to oversee the new store and has been with Greggs for seven years.
He is excited to welcome his new customers.
He said: “The exciting thing for Greenock is it’s another Greggs shop on top of the one we’ve got along the road.
“Currently we’ve employed 24 local people, there’s probably scope for another four or five.
“We started recruiting in December and we had a great response, we’ve got some lovely people and 99 per cent of them are from the area, which is brilliant as it provides jobs.
“We’re right on the roundabout here, we’ve got great exposure and I’m hoping to grow the business here.
“The more we grow it, the more people we can take in and the more local jobs we can create.
“We only have three drive-throughs in Scotland, this is the third one built.
“There’s one in Edinburgh and one up in Glasgow, this is the biggest one in Scotland so far and it is also the most exciting.
“The amount of traffic coming up and down here every day gives us great exposure and you can see how busy it is every day.”
The opening is the culmination of years of work to prepare the site, which was purchased from Scottish Enterprise in 2018 by developers Dalglen Ltd.
The firm, which is owned by billionaire brother James and Sandy Easdale, had plans for a drive-through coffee shop on the site approved back in October 2021.
Locals have watched the progress of the site with interest since work began last year, with the big opening day now finally here.
Andy hopes that the new store will prove a big hit in Inverclyde and add to Greggs' existing offering.
He added: “It’s about putting Greggs out there and hopefully creating more jobs down the line as we grow.
“I’m excited for opening day, there’s a wee bit of apprehension of course because it’s a brand-new team but they’ve been doing their training across Inverclyde and they’re doing very well.
“I think it’ll take off very well.”
This article and image appeared in The Greenock Telegraph.
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