Jonathan and Zena Tout were delighted to collect the Forecourt Trader of the Year Award 2023 for Tout’s Cleeve, matching the family’s previous win in 2008.
“Cleeve was a labour of love,” said Jonathan. ”It took us about five and a half years to get that store planned, opened and ready to trade like it is, and Zena has created our brand from scratch. How good it is to be recognised for how good that brand is, and how good that store is… it’s absolutely incredible.”
The Tout’s £6m development in Cleeve has been a labour of love and passion, resulting in a unique and authentic experience for its customers and teams. Tout’s Cleeve features a 4,100-sqft store, Esso Forecourt, an 82-capacity lounge/restaurant called The Maple, a 12-capacity hair salon, a 40-seater training facility, and Head Office, all owned and run by Tout’s. Cleeve is the company’s first concept site for building a place that contains all the things people want quickly and in-person.
The store was designed around food art, knowledge, and theatre with the mantra “Mostly a Supermarket, fairly like a farm shop, little like a discounter and nothing like a corner shop”.
At the entrance a curved wall is filled with living plants, local flowers, and the illuminated Tout’s Passionate About Food sign.
See their post-awards interview here
The innovative produce area funnels customers down the chilled aisle, while Himalayan rock salt encases the meat refrigeration. The alcohol area is transformed into a cellar, and the kiosk area is designed to be practical, beautiful, and welcoming.
They made hero categories such as flowers, produce, meat, bread & cakes, Food2go, Cellar and Kiosk while keeping their core grocery aisles, a clean and crisp supermarket.
The Tout’s have developed their own Food2Go brand, Maple Kitchen, where The Maple chefs develop and innovate the products on-site.
Technology has been at the forefront of Cleeve’s opening, with eSELS eliminating incorrect pricing; Assisted Ordering through Point4; Appy Delivery to better serve community residents; TooGoodToGo reducing food waste; and PowerBI providing live tracking of figures to anticipate needs.
The site takes pride in offering over 734 unique, locally sourced products from Bristol and Somerset Counties, exciting the Tout’s product range, and reducing their carbon footprint. Contributing over £362k, with 0.6% of all local product sales going into their initiative to “provide 1 million meals to local families in need”, with over 77k meals provided to date.
Forecourt Trader editor Merril Boulton said: ”Every year we are always amazed by the exceptional drive, ambition, and creativity of fuel retailers and how each year there is a new star pushing the boundaries. This year it’s the Touts – winners with their Nailsea site in 2008 – who have created a unique £6m development featuring a 4,100-sq ft store, Esso forecourt, an 82-capacity lounge/restaurant called The Maple, a 12-capacity hair salon, a 40-seater training facility, and head office – its first concept site for building a destination that contains all the things people want quickly and in-person. It was designed around food art, knowledge and theatre and is bristling with innovation on all fronts. An amazing entry, a stunning development, many congratulations!”
Tout’s Cleeve initially won the award for Best Site in the South West & Wales in the 4mlpa+ regional category, which made it eligible for being considered for the top prize. It also won three Specialist category awards: Best Design & Development; Best Forecourt Innovation and Best Forecourt Loo.
