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There appears to be a lot of misunderstanding and misinformation re the vat on hot food. The bottom line is anyone that sells hot food has had to account for vat for many years. This includes reheating pies, providing microwaves (as by doing so you are deemed to be intending to sell your pie hot even if the customer heats it in your microwave).Whilst many small businesses have had to vat account for hot pies, Greggs and indeed many supermarkets have got round this by selling freshly baked products (which just happen to be hot at the time you want to buy a hot pie) rather than selling hot pies. Subtle difference but one that Greggs and others have been able to exploit until now. It would have been better if all food heated (which involves a very limited service element) was zero rated but I guess the next best option is a level playing field.