Food to go may be the “shining mission” that forecourt operators are going after to protect against declining categories such as tobacco. But developing meals for tonight and top-up could give better results.
This is the message from Katie Secretan, managing director at Co-op Wholesale, which works with over 600 forecourts in the UK through its wholesale and franchise channels.
Speaking at this week’s PRA/ACS conference, she recognised that there are lots of “brilliant” food to go options, including hot serve-over counters, which she said of course forecourt operators should be looking at.
“But I would challenge and say that actually that there are two other missions that will provide you with a much richer uplift in your sales than you might get today, and will probably offer you a greater leverage to wider levels of shoppers than you would get from food to go,” she said.
Pointing to meals for tonight and top-up she added: “These are the two missions that I would say really give you the opportunity to grow your business.”
With restaurant bookings dwindling and takeaway customers reducing at a lesser rate, meals for tonight becomes an attractive proposition, said Secretan. “We know these people are looking for a treat meal for tonight, so not your standard ready-meal that comes as a top-up, but something more of a treat and maybe an impulse purchase,” she said.
And with forecourt customers more likely to buy on impulse, this category becomes even more important, said Secretan.
“Chilled and protein are really important for meals for tonight,” she said. “I would encourage you to think about a really high-quality meal for tonight. I would encourage you to think about changing it often because impulse missions often come with seeing something new, and deals are useful. We do pizza and prosecco and high-quality Korean beer and the like – these are absolutely the types of mission categories that unsuspecting shoppers, who weren’t thinking about taking something home for a meal for tonight will purchase.”
Top-up, she said, while “not anywhere as sexy” as the meal for tonight, probably offers the biggest opportunity for spend uplift. One in seven households only top up now, and are not using supermarkets for a weekly shop, she said, and top-up shoppers tend to spend more per visit.
“We know top-up shoppers spend more, a minimum of 10% more,” she said, and when you factor in the increased spend at a forecourt of £13.48 typically, against £8 in other convenience, the top-up visit can be worth £15 to petrol stations, “a pretty decent customer to have in your environment”.
The top-up mission is now more about produce, and is ingredient led, with people looking for items they have forgotten to buy elsewhere for a meal they are already preparing. And she said health and beauty is “really important” for the top-up mission.
When it comes to food to go, forecourts need to reflect that customers on the road are happy to pay more for a quality sandwich or other snack. And she said petrol station owners should not be scared to introduce a premium offer.
Within 12 weeks of a roadside partner Co-op works with upgrading its food to go at 25 sites, it saw a 24% sales uplift, with a 19% higher meal deal penetration and 14% less waste.
Secretan said: “We are no longer at a time that people will accept mediocre quality on the roadside as they think that is all that the offering is.”
