Gill Marsh Forecourts hopes to increase food to go sales from £14,000 a week to over £20,000 at its flagship forecourt by offering heated Praveen Kumar Indian ready-meals and accompaniments.
Currently, the eat now food category is the most shopped at its Ulceby Cross Filling Station in Alford – one of three operated by the business in Lincolnshire.
Some 34% of the Total Energies/Spar forecourt’s sales come from food to go, compared with just 19% for tobacco, which traditionally has been one of the biggest non-fuel lines for petrol garages.
As well as an own-brand hot food range made onsite, it takes bake-off supplies from Country Choice, Delice de France pastries, Rollover hotdogs, salad boxes and fruit pots from Spar and, until next month, sandwiches from a local supplier.
The idea is that the Praveen Kumar meals will be sold from one of five heated cabinets in the 3,500sq ft store, and also microwaved fresh from one of two serve-over counters, open from 5am to 4pm, from which the business sells among other items, toasties, hot potatoes, filled Yorkshire puddings and carvery roasts. Praveen Kumar-branded extras, such as poppadoms, pakoras and onion bhajis will be heated in an air fryer to give “the restaurant experience”, says managing director Tom Dant.
Early next year he is considering delivering the meals with Snapper Shopper and Just Eat. Hot food deliveries, which it began last year with Snappy Shopper, are proving popular with £800-worth sold this way a week, and hot breakfasts so far proving particularly popular.
The foodservice part of the forecourt business, which employs seven staff, three of which are full-time, was re-branded to Tom’s Kitchen during a shop redevelopment last year. Next month Dant says that the next step will be the site turning into a production hub for sandwiches, fruit pots and salad boxes to supply direct all Gill Marsh Forecourts’ locations.
“We started using a local sandwich supplier during covid, when like other forecourts we were hit by a decline in trade,” says Dant. ”But now we are doing a massive trade in food to go it makes sense for us to run our own kitchen for the three sites.”
Another change that the business plans is to use china plates to cut down on food waste from its 40-seat restaurant area, washing them in the site’s dishwasher.
Dant plans to use the 24-hour site’s multiple digital media displays to market the Praveen Kumar range, as well as posting on Facebook and Instagram. Dant says he is also considering offering promotional bundles to drive initial interest in the hot meals which are due to be available from this Thursday. And eventually the meals will be available to order on the instore touchscreen ordering kiosk from Hendersons Technology.
“We are starting small with three options – two chicken and a vegetarian grab and go box of a rice, curry, and onion bhaji. And we expect to build from here with the brand helping us to develop more of an evening range, without the need for specialist chefs,” says Dant. He adds that the meals will initially be available from the hot cabinet until 7pm every night apart from Friday until 10pm.
He is also introducing a single door upright freezer of more than 20 Praveen Kumar meals. It joins two Cook chest freezers, which now account for two-thirds of the frozen food business at Ulceby Cross Filling Station.
“With Cook doing so well, despite a local Co-op having the freezers too, we know that there is room for another premium brand to be sold alongside it,” says Dant.
