UK: Food to go is reborn

November 28, 2023 José Miguel Flavián Erlac 

Food To Go has been playing an important role in supermarket plans for some time. It was one of the segments of mass consumption that was growing the most before the pandemic, and naturally the confinement ended the need to buy this type of products and the market collapsed.

After the pandemic, the recovery of this market has been slow, mainly due to the gradual return to office work, but now it seems that it has recovered and is once again as promising as before the pandemic.

It is a purchase that offers repeat visits by customers, since every day they have to buy something to eat, and if you manage to tempt them to come into your store, you have already done a good job. And another important factor is that supermarkets do not compete directly with each other for customers, but rather with other agents such as restaurant businesses that sell sandwiches or salads, whether they are restaurant chains or independent businesses. Then sales make the consumer pie bigger, instead of having to fight for a piece with a direct competitor.

In recent months several chains have announced projects in this area:

• Tesco has launched more than 150 new references, with a special focus on those of a Christmas nature
• Both Sainsbury's and Asda have developed a dedicated space in several of their stores with a new range of products. Sainsbury's calls it “ Kitchen Deli ” and its positioning is premium, while Asda's is called “ Asda Food Hub ”, and has almost 50 new references.
• Waitrose has recently introduced the famous “meal deal” (a sandwich, a drink and a snack or dessert for £5) and takeaway sales have tripled.

Tesco photography

The IGD expects Food To Go to grow by 13% this year, driven by the return of more workers to the offices, and a certain optimism of this group of people in the face of the economic situation, which makes them spend more money eating out. home. In 2022 the channel reached sales of £18.9 billion, and in 2027 it is expected to be £23.4 billion.

And just this week a giant in the sector, on the manufacturing side, published its annual results. Greencore's sales are quite positive: in the 12 months to September 2023 sales have grown by 10% to £1.91bn. Part of this growth is due to inflation, but another part is due to the fact that they have grown in volume by 0.5%, and they have also obtained new contracts with more margin, leaving behind clients with little margin. It is interesting to see the behavior of their two lines of main business: while Food To Go grew by 7.9% to £1,250, the ready meals line grew by 14.3%, to £661 million. And they are fortunate to be in another segment of mass consumption with a more promising future, that of prepared meals. These products are experiencing a sweet moment thanks to the fact that many consumers stop going to restaurants for economic reasons, and replace that experience with premium food from a supermarket, and chains are also working hard to take advantage of this trend.