By Jennifer Meierhans
Business reporter
Bakery chain Greggs has shut some of its stores due to an issue accepting payments.
Customers found branches of the bakery chain closed or cash only.
It follows card payment outages at Sainsbury’s and Tesco on Saturday, and McDonald’s last Friday.
A statement from Greggs said: “We are currently experiencing issues accepting payments in our shops.” It added: “We are working to resolve this as soon as possible.”
Customers posted on social media their disappointment at being greeted by closed doors or having to leave empty handed as they did not have any cash.
One posted on X, formerly Twitter: “Greggs this morning cash only! Sitting here with my coffee watching almost everyone have to walk out.”
Another posted a photo of a sign saying: “Shop will open late due to technical issues. You can order through click and collect or Uber Eats. Sorry for any inconvenience caused.”
A worker at a Greggs store in Manchester told the BBC that when staff turned on the tills on Wednesday morning an error meant no items were displayed. She said someone had arrived to fix the till so the store was now open but others in the area were closed while they waited for technical help.
It is unclear how many branches of the bakery chain have been affected by the payment problem and the BBC has spoken to some that are operating normally.
The issue at Greggs is the latest in a series of technical glitches hitting some of the UK’s biggest food brands.
Sainsbury’s could not fulfil most online grocery deliveries on Saturday due to issues with an overnight software update which also hit contactless payments in stores. Unrelated technical issues also forced Tesco to cancel a “small number” of orders.
The day before, McDonald’s restaurants around the world were unable to take orders due to a “global technology system outage”.
