The food-to-go industry is transforming as unexpected retailers enter the £23.4bn market, aiming for a substantial share by 2027.
- Fortnum & Mason has ventured into food-to-go with its café counter at their Piccadilly location, extending its offering beyond traditional department store services.
- Holland & Barrett is experimenting with café concessions, offering health-focused beverages with unique wellness ingredients.
- Hotel Chocolat is enhancing its food-to-go services, introducing bakery and hot food options in select locations, inspired by its restaurant offerings.
- WHSmith and Ralph Lauren are innovating their strategies, WHSmith with a new café and Ralph Lauren with permanent coffee setups.
The food-to-go market is witnessing a significant transformation as it opens up to non-traditional players in the retail sector. This £23.4bn market, projected by IGD to reach its full potential by 2027, is attracting varied retailers seeking to broaden their consumer engagement through innovative food and beverage offerings outside their conventional domains.
Fortnum & Mason, a luxury department store traditionally known for its high-end goods, has entered this market with the launch of a café counter at its Piccadilly flagship store. This move aims to attract a broader customer base looking for quick-service hot drinks and pastries, supplementing the lunchtime Bagel Bar introduced last year. As stated by Fortnum & Mason’s fresh buyer Zoe Norman, “We are increasing our offering to cater for even more of our customer base.”
Holland & Barrett has embraced this trend by opening a second café concession at its London Victoria Street location. Building on its initial trial in Birmingham, the health-focused retailer offers a distinct menu of organic teas and coffees. Beverages such as the ‘Calm Latte’, featuring matcha and ashwagandha, are designed to enhance consumer wellness and vitality, integrating added vitamins for increased benefits.
Meanwhile, Hotel Chocolat is expanding its footprint in the food-to-go market by launching bakery and hot food concessions in several stores, notably in Yorkshire. These offerings are crafted internally and reflect dishes from the Hotel Chocolat restaurant, such as a Chocolatier’s Carrot Cake and Caribbean Chicken Curry, showcasing a blend of sweet and savoury options.
WHSmith has introduced a new café format branded as Smith’s Kitchen in Southampton, capitalising on the success of its pre-existing food-to-go range. This development follows a period of ‘record weeks’ in food sales, as noted by Managing Director Andrew Harrison. The expansion includes an increased partnership with brands like Myprotein, which recently launched its range in over 300 stores.
Ralph Lauren expands its in-store cafe concept with Ralph’s Coffee, originally a pop-up, now a permanent feature at its New Bond Street location. Known for its stylish, inviting environment, Ralph’s Coffee serves a variety of drinks and sweets, also extending its presence to Bicester Village with a takeaway option from a vintage Citroen truck.
Retailers are strategically diversifying into the food-to-go sector, seeking new avenues for growth and customer reach.
