While the food-to-go market has traditionally been limited to sandwich chains and supermarkets, unsuspecting retailers have also sought a piece of the pie that’s estimated by IGD to be worth £23.4bn by 2027.
Retail Gazette rounds up the top retailers investing in food-to-go.
Fortnum & Mason
Fortnum & Mason became the latest retailer to tap into the growing food-to-go market as it launched its first café counter in August.
The luxury department store introduced the counter in its Piccadilly flagship, offering customers a selection of hot drinks, cold drinks, pastries and soft serve ice cream.
It is the retailer’s first-ever fixture dedicated to takeaway hot drinks and joins its in-store Bagel Bar, which launched last October.
Fortnum & Mason fresh buyer Zoe Norman told The Grocer: “We are increasing our offering to cater for even more of our customer base.
“As we see our ever-popular lunchtime offer growing we saw the need to offer a hot drinks proposition while also allowing us to offer coffee and morning goods before the lunchtime rush.”
Holland & Barrett
Holland & Barrett opened its second café concession at its London Victoria Street store in July.
The health and wellness retailer first trialled its H&Bean takeaway service at its Birmingham flagship, which launched in November.
The retailer has put its own spin on a selection of hot and cold drinks, meaning customers can order from a range of new unique signature organic tea and coffees with added vitamins and health and wellness ingredients.
This includes drinks such as ‘Calm Latte’, which combines matcha, coconut milk, ashwagandha and vitamin B3 to support energy levels, and reduce tiredness and fatigue.
Hotel Chocolat
Hotel Chocolat launched its first set of bakery and hot food concessions in August as it bolsters its food-to-go offer.
The chocolatier currently offers ice creams as well as hot and cold drinks in 119 of its 126 stores.
However, its expanded food-to-go offer arrived at three of the retailer’s Yorkshire sites in Harrogate, Leeds Springs, Leeds Trinity, and Ilkley over the summer.
The sweet and savoury goods on offer have been developed in-house and are based on dishes from the Hotel Chocolat restaurant, with products ranging from a Chocolatier’s Carrot Cake to a Caribbean Chicken Curry.
WHSmith
WHSmith launched a new café format under its Smith’s Kitchen brand in Princess Anne Hospital, Southampton in August, just three months after it launched its Smith’s Family Kitchen food-to-go range.
The 26 seat, 495 sq ft café sells coffee, tea, iced drinks as well as hot breakfast choices, fresh pastries and cakes.
Following WHSmith’s launch of its Smith’s Family Kitchen range, managing director Andrew Harrison reported the business had witnessed “record weeks” of food sales.
The retailer is currently expanding the number of brands it works with across its fresh, ambient and drinks lines, including THG-owned Myprotein which launched its snacks and treats range in more than 300 WHSmith stores nationwide last month.
Ralph Lauren
Located next to Ralph Lauren’s store on London’s New Bond Street is Ralph’s Coffee.
What started off as a summer-long pop-up in 2019 shortly turned into a permanent fixture in the store offering customers and passersby a selection of coffee, espressos and teas, along with some sweet treats.
The American brand has a second Ralph’s Coffee’s location in an iconic hunter green 1965 Citroen truck outside its Bicester Village store.
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