For BP, breakfast (6am-9am) is the busiest time of the day for food to go and the company caters for this demand with variety.
“One of our best-selling items is the Bacon & Cheese turnover, which sold around 2.4 million units last year,” says Jo Hayward, BP’s VP mobility & convenience retail UK.
“Our freshly made Big Breakfast Bap, part of our pilot fresh, made-to-order food offer, has also proved a hit during our busiest time, the morning rush. Our 100% Arabica coffee is also a top seller, with over 23.6 million cups sold last year – we’ve had customers ask us where we buy our coffee beans.”
In BP’s company owned stores the food-to-go offer comprises three main elements: its proprietary Wild Bean Cafe coffee and bakery offer; an M&S convenience offer and branded goods.
“Depending on the size and location of the store ,there are variations in the ranges we offer. We have also been piloting a Wild Bean Cafe freshly, made-to-order food menu in select stores in the South East with best sellers including the Herby Chicken Burger,” says Hayward.
“We have recently introduced a Wild Bean Cafe offer for our dealer stores too – the micro-market is a self-serve modular food and beverage concept with coffee machines, hot food units with pastries and freshly baked goods, and Fresh Blends iced drinks. The modular design allows dealers to choose which elements they want to include in their stores.”
PROMOTIONAL CONTENT
Fresh Food For Now Co. shakes up snacking with new savoury bars
Fresh Food For Now Company’s new Snack Bars are an unconventional yet enticing duo of savoury bars, available now in travel, forecourt and impulse channels.
Designed to grab the attention of busy commuters and people on the road, the hunger-busting Buffet Bar and Scotch Egg Bar are two satisfying solutions to between-meal cravings, available in striking shelf-ready packaging to improve visibility on fixture.
Protein-packed to meet demand from the 53%* of consumers looking to stay fuller for longer the bars also combine several of the UK’s most reached-for snack formats. A picnic in one bite, the Buffet Bar is juicy, 100% British sausage meat filled with crunchy coleslaw, soft cheese and creamy mayo and wrapped in crispy golden breadcrumbs.
Tapping into the well-loved snacking staple of a savoury egg – bought by over a third of the population and particularly popular with younger consumers** – the Scotch Egg bar sees sausage meat filled with perfectly seasoned egg mayonnaise, encased in a breadcrumb coating.
Operators can stock up on the new snack bars by contacting the Fresh Food For Now Company sales team on 0116 236 1640 or email hello@foodfornow.co.uk.
*Guardian/YouGov/Waitrose/Mintel data
**Kantar
She says the key drivers for food-to-go purchases are value, quality, choice and convenience: “It’s about giving our customers what they want, when and where they want it. We focus on delivering value and that means fresh, tasty, high-quality food in the right locations on the side of the road. Customers only spend a few minutes in our stores so we know that efficient service is also important and are proud of the excellent customer service our store colleagues provide.
“Everything we do starts with the customer and what they want. Through robust testing, including taste panels and customer feedback, we adjust our menu to include both best-sellers and innovative new options. Additionally, at the stores where we are piloting our freshly made-to-order menu, we have started offering the option to customise items to customers’ individual tastes, for example they can request a runny egg or a different sauce.”
As to keeping up with the latest trends to ensure the range stays fresh and exciting, Hayward says they have a team of foodservice specialists who are passionate about food and follow what’s going on in the industry closely, for example by attending events, closely following trade media and accessing market reports. “This, combined with our voice of the customer research, helps us to develop the offers our customers know and love.”
Varied offer
At Shell, its Deli by Shell brand offers a comprehensive food-to-go offering of chilled food, hot food and baked confectionery across its network of company-owned stations.
The Shell chilled offering of sandwiches and wraps is available at all of the 400-plus Shell Select stations. At the 91 Little Waitrose locations, they have Waitrose sandwiches as part of the wider food-to-go range, and at Shell’s 29 Proud to Stock Co-op locations, they have just launched the Co-op range of sandwiches and wraps, chilled snacks, snack bars and drinks.
A spokesperson says: “Our Deli by Shell hot food offering, including paninis, toasties, turnovers and our renowned Steak and Ale pasty, is available at 350 stations, along with our baked confectionery range of donuts, sweet bakes and our exclusive Almond Pain au Chocolate. Shell also partners with Costa Express for takeaway coffees and hot chocolates at all 530 company-owned locations (Select, Little Waitrose and Co-op combined), with iced drinks at 140 locations. We will also be launching Costa Tea exclusive at 140 locations from mid- September.”
One to watch
MFG is definitely one to watch when it comes to food to go as the Top 50 Indie always seems to be adding to its portfolio.
As well as the ubiquitous Costa, Greggs and Subway, it also has growing partnerships with Burger King, Miss Millies fried chicken, Pret a Manger and Wrights Pies.
Two new Burger King outlets opened at MFG Falmouth in Cornwall and MFG Napier in Edinburgh recently. And it opened its 20th Pret outlet at its East Grinstead site, which was recently the subject of a knockdown rebuild. Its relationship with Pret is going great guns as its Stevenage site was recently named the Pret Top Franchise Shop.
The latest food-to-go brand to appear at MFG sites is Wrights. Posting on LinkedIn, Wrights said they were delighted to announce a significant milestone as they launched their first bakery outside of the North West – at Barnetby Services on the A15/M180 interchange in Lincolnshire. Wrights added that this signified a whole new chapter for the brand as it looks to make Wrights a household name. The Barnetby opening was followed by the launch of the first Wrights at an MFG Morrisons Daily in Balby, Doncaster.
As for Greggs, MFG recently opened two more bakery concessions at MFG Bordon in Hampshire and MFG Viaduct in Kidderminster. And MFG’s Monktonhall site in East Lothian was named as Greggs’ 500th franchise store.
It’s obviously easier for companies with deep pockets such as MFG to lead the way in food to go and initiate tie ups with big brands. But there are some good food-to-go options – such as Rollover – for smaller operators too.
Easy to operate
Many MFG sites have Rollover hotdogs and to celebrate National Hotdog Month in July, MFG Connect app users were able to claim a free hotdog courtesy of Rollover.
Thanks to its presence in cinemas such as Cineworld and at football clubs, Rollover is a household name. And its hotdog range spans everything from its original 90g sausage to the Wall’s breakfast sausage and even the Veggie Vegan.
It’s not only sausages that Rollover offers, it has burgers and nachos too. Its latest launch is the Southern Fried Chicken Burger.
Made with 100% chicken breast and served in a hand-finished bun, the Halal-certified burger capitalises on the increasing popularity of chicken. It comes in fully recyclable packaging and is supported by pos material, to help retailers maximise visibility and sales in-store. Suggested rrp is £3.29-£3.50
Tony Owen, general manager at Rollover, says. “Our new crispy Southern Fried Chicken Burger delivers on consumer demand for hot food-to-go options that deliver on flavour, quality and satisfaction.”
The Rollover food-to-go solution is easy to operate and, when it comes to the equipment, this is provided free on loan to retailers.
Cook in the Box
Earlier this year, Kepak introduced the Rustlers food-to-go launch kit. The kits include one fridge full of stock, one light-box shop sign and access to social media support materials to help retailers advertise that they have hot food available in store.
The launch kits supported food-to-go units that contain a pre-programmed microwave and a small chiller underneath ,which can store eight cases of Rustlers’ Cook In The Box range, saving space within the store. The premium versions of the units also contain a TV screen for advertising the latest Rustlers offers. Kepak says they are easy to set up, straightforward to clean and are powered by just a single plug socket. The units start at £2,500.
All Rustlers Cook In The Box products (Supreme Cheese Melt Burger, Peri Peri Chicken Tenders and All Day Breakfast Sausage Muffin) are microwaved in packaging, minimising the risk of spills. The products feature patented cooking technology that ensures they come out crispy.
Kepak says that response from retailers to the food-to-go deal was very positive, resulting in multiple conversations which led to around 100 retailers benefiting from marketing, social media and business support.
Mike Fitton, head of franchise operations at Southern Co-op, has installed the
Rustlers food-to-go machines in some of their stores. “The units are easy for customers and staff to use. The machine is pre-programmed, and staff just have to clean it once a day. Because the products are microwaved in packaging, we rarely get spills, but staff are trained to be on the lookout to avoid allergens being spread.”
He says that typically they create a food-to-go area near the tills, positioning the Rustlers’ unit next to the Co-op branded sandwich meal deals.
“This creates an area that offers customers plenty of choice for their lunch meal,” says Fitton.
“We’ve now got 74 Welcome stores, all owned by independent retailers, and food to go plays a central part of our strategy.”
“All the new stores we open have some kind of solution in them. The food-to-go unit is a key part of our offer for our transient stores, especially those with a small back-of-house space.”
Coming soon to forecourts…
Meanwhile, last year Kepak expanded its one-stop automated retail solution with the launch of a Hot Food Kiosk. The machine is exclusive to Kepak and can dispense one of its Cook-in-Box range of burgers within 80 seconds of the user making their choice.
The Hot Food Kiosk can hold up to 52 of Kepak’s Cook-In-Box range.
Already Hot Food Kiosks have been rolled out to airports including London Luton. Kepak has big plans for the machine going into 2025, including an ambition to roll out the Kiosks into forecourts as well as high footfall areas including train stations.
