Greggs mystery solved! Workers reveal why customers are ‘corrected’ if they ask for ketchup on their order

• A Reddit user has asked if Greggs workers are banned from saying ketchup
• READ MORE: Greggs makes MAJOR menu change with five new items

A loyal Greggs customer who’s been left baffled by a question staff always ask has gone on a mission to find the answer. 

Taking to Reddit to seek clarity on whether or not Gregg’s workers are banned from saying a very popular word, they explained that each time they ask for ketchup, they’re met with a strange response.  

They Greggs fan said they’ve been ‘corrected’, and asked to confirm whether they want ‘red sauce’, and it’s happened in branches across the country, including Bristol, Manchester, Lancaster, Newcastle, and Glasgow.

The post received over 1,500 comments with many others fired up by the peculiar situation, as people claiming to be Greggs staff chiming in to offer an explanation. 

Although there was no clear conclusion, it seems that it’s all down to speed because it’s easier to say ‘red or brown sauce’ than ‘Heinz Ketchup or HP sauce’.

A Greggs fan has asked Reddit users if Gregg’s employees are banned from saying the word ketchup in favour of the term red sauce 

The original poster outlined their question in a post titled: ‘Greggs employees, are you explicitly told never to use the word “ketchup”?’

‘I frequently ask for ketchup only to be ‘corrected’ or asked to confirm I want red sauce,’ one wrote. ‘I initially wondered if it was a legal thing around not being able to call it ketchup, but I can see that it’s coming out of Heinz Ketchup bottles.

‘It’s not a regional thing, I’ve had the same experience in Bristol, Manchester, Lancaster, Newcastle and Glasgow.’

A Reddit user, who claims to be a Greggs employee, offered an explanation. 

The user said: ‘Currently employed by Greggs. My understanding is that it’s for quick service and efficient delivery.  

‘Red or brown sauce? Faster to say than Heinz ketchup or HP Sauce? As with all service for Greggs. Repeat, repeat, repeat. 

‘This helps (apparently) to ensure the customer has the best and quickest experience’

A second user who also said they work for Greggs agreed: ‘There are rules we need to follow when serving and one of them is to always ask, “Red or brown sauce?” when. 

‘This is to do with allergens and s*** and generally we should be asking this with every single order. Not the red or brown sauce thing, but repeating it.

‘Dunno, just easier to avoid mistakes being made by saying “Red sauce or brown sauce”.’

Reddit users have started a debate over why Greggs employees ask if you want red or brown sauce instead of mentioning ketchup or HP Sauce 

Even with an explanation to the situation, people remain unsatisfied. One said: ‘But everyone knows what “ketchup” is. 

‘And every Brit knows what brown sauce is. “Red sauce” isn’t a thing round here. I’ve never heard it much my entire life and my mind automatically assumes it’s somehow different to ketchup.’ 

A second user added: ‘I’m British and, for reference, 36 years old. I’ve never heard red sauce in my life outside of Greggs and, although you might occasionally hear someone say “tomato sauce” instead of ketchup, it’s not common by any stretch.

‘It’s also potentially confusing, since tomato sauce is something you would make to go with pasta. I’ve known it primarily as ketchup for my whole life. 

‘Maybe it’s a regional thing to give it a different name, but it’s literally been called ketchup in the shops everywhere for as long as I’ve known.’ 

A third user agreed and said: ‘This makes so little sense to me because where I grew up red sauce just wasn’t a phrase. 

‘People could obviously work out that it meant, but it seems a risk to use a (locally) non-common phrase for the name of a product that is literally on the bottle.’ 

A fourth user said: ‘I’ve noticed this too in Nottingham! They ask if I want red or brown and I always respond with “ketchup”… maybe I’m petty but I can’t bring myself to call it “red sauce”.

While most users commented that they prefer the term ketchup, some disagreed.

One wrote: ‘Strange. For me ketchup is the new fangled American term that has only began creeping in over recent years. It was always red sauce or tomato sauce.’ 

A second user explained why they prefer the term red sauce: ‘Because when people say “ketchup” they may or may not mean “tomato ketchup” which is red.

‘Ketchup does not have to be red and can be made from thinks other that tomato, mushroom for example, which is green.

‘So they are clarifying to you that they mean the red version of ketchup.’ 

A third user said: ‘I grew up with it being called red sauce and brown sauce in Newcastle and that’s where Gregg’s originated so could be that?

‘Think I’d only ever say ketchup in McDonald’s for some reason.’ 

A fourth person added: ‘This is a North/ South thing. In the South its never called red or brown. It is in the north.’

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