Deliver to car services for motorists charging their vehicles, micro stations that do away with the need for on-site kitchens, and using AI to reduce waste. These are some of the food to go trends that will make their mark in forecourts in 2025, predicts foodservice consultant Matt Cundrick.
I have seen a lot more work in food to go (FTG) over the past year that will come to fruition in 2025. Lots of this is around operators wanting to step up their customer proposition. Petrol station owners wish to give more to their customers than just a basic chilled packet sandwich, or hot sausage roll, whether that is just switching to a more premier product or investing in full FTG outlets.
Growth of FTG brands into forecourts is nothing new. Greggs, Pret and Subway have been here for years, and have been laying down space like it is going out of fashion, but I think 2025 will change that. We will begin to see a lot more operators moving to offer a point of difference, either through proprietary or alternative brands. Think Wrights The Bakery at MFG. Next year will bring about some much needed refresh and bring us closer to European models.
Costs are going to play a major part in the evolution of FTG in forecourts. With operators facing rises in employment costs, there will be continued pressure on finding the wins. Whether that’s trimming a cost, or growing our way out of the challenge.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the elephant in the room. How will this impact the sector? While there are no concrete answers right now, there are businesses harnessing the tools, whether for geotagged marketing to connect with local customers, or enhanced data analysis to drive performance. On the latter, companies like Cybake are doing an incredible job in using AI to optimise production plans across the FTG sector, and are looking to move into the forecourt space in the coming year, allowing more operators to optimise sales and reduce waste/production hours.
Ordering and loyalty will also feature heavily. ‘Deliver to car’ has been a phenomenal success at McDonald’s, and there are already moves among motorway service areas to enable this technology across other brands. As more and more people stay in their electric vehicles to charge, this offers strong opportunities for growth.
It is worth always considering how FTG can be enabled in the tens of thousands of lower volume stores. While it is easy in a high footfall location to switch on the big brands, and deliver something on a grand scale, many other sites in an operator’s network might not get the same attention.
However, many suppliers are now seeing the opportunity here to offer great FTG, and making it operationally viable in smaller, lower volume stores where kitchens might not be available and single manning is (or will be) commonplace. Sainsbury’s broke the mould last year by introducing the Jake & Nayns microstation, and Welcome Break has begun rolling out the Phat Pasty Heat & Eat counters. Both require no kitchen, and allow customers to get hot food on the move.
In summary, 2025 presents phenomenal opportunities to go big and deliver a significant change to your forecourt offering with a powerhouse FTG proposition, but also to reach scale and breadth across a network.
- Matt Cundrick, of MKMC Food Business Support, has over 20 years experience in food to go operations across forecourt and convenience outlets, with stints at McColl’s and Rontec. He is now a freelance consultant in the industry, helping forecourt operators “optimise their food to go propositions”.