Repositioning itself from being a traditional bakery chain selling sliced loaves and apple turnovers to a food-on-the go specialist proved the vital ingredient to impressive growth.

This week’s half-year results showed a rise in underlying profits from £25.7m to £40.6m on sales up almost 15% to £546m.

Greggs’ resonance with contemporary consumers is down not just to a reassessment of what it sells but, crucially, when it sells and, increasingly, how it sells.

The shift has been overseen by chief executive Roger Whiteside who, since joining in 2013, has turned a business that once looked as if it could be going stale into one that consistently whets shoppers’ appetites.