SSP, one of Britain’s leading sandwich sellers has quietly cut the size of its baguettes sold through its Upper Crust and Caffè Ritazza sites.
According to The Times, SSP has sliced an inch off the loaves sold at its outlets, but without necessarily reducing its price.
A spokeswoman for SSP, which runs more than 600 outlets at 20 airports and 115 railway stations, told the newspaper, it had shrunk its baguettes by nearly a tenth. She said: “The baguette size has been cut by less than 10 per cent but it’s nothing to do with cost savings but to bring them into line with their competitors.”
She said that “the majority of baguettes that have reduced in size have also been reduced in price”, although a member of staff at the Upper Crust in London Bridge station told The Times that the store was still charging the same price.
One rival food and drink retailer claimed that, in an attempt to shave costs, SSP had also cut the number of teabags in a large tea from two to one, while instructing staff not to provide customers with a paper napkin with their baguette unless asked for one.
The SSP spokeswoman insisted the napkin instruction was “not true”, although she confirmed that there had been a change in its tea-making policies. “They’ve simply changed supplier to a stronger type of tea so there’s no need for two bags, though if customers want a second bag they can have one.”
