According to the Food to Go Report 2023 by Lumina Intelligence, the sector grew by +31.7% in 2022 to a value of £21.4 billion.
While part of this growth was due to high inflation, it was also fuelled by a recovery in footfall.
In 2023, the value of the sector is expected to grow even further – to £22.2 billion and reach its highest level of outlet growth since the COVID-19 pandemic (Lumina).
The report also revealed that the food-to-go category was predicted to hold a 23.7% total market share in 2024 compared to 23.4% in 2022 (Lumina), with the sector expected to outpace growth seen in the wider eating out market.
Neil Stewart, Head of Marketing for Cathedral City at Saputo Dairy UK, comments: “The demand for healthier snacks and food to go products continues to rise, with more and more retailers realising that healthier snacking can deliver healthy sales. Indeed, over 6 in 10 shoppers want to see healthy snacking options at their local convenience store (Harris Interactive).
“Cheese occupies a unique position in consumers’ hearts and minds when it comes to snacking. Cheddar is naturally nutrient rich – high in protein and a good source of calcium, both of which contribute to healthy bones, as well as other vitamins & minerals. Cheese can deliver an indulgent, sensory eating experience while also fulfilling a widely recognised role as part of a balanced diet. Via our Cathedral City Minis range and grab and go Snackbars, we are supporting consumers with a range of portion (and calorie) controlled snack-sized products. In fact, Cathedral City’s Cheese Snacking range has delivered +7% value growth in Symbols & Independents in the latest 52wks vs YAGO (IRI).
“In addition to protein and micronutrients, calories have also been a long-standing marker of what constitutes a healthy snack. Products that support this, such as our Cathedral City Minis and Cathedral City Nibbles, which offer a 100% natural snack that is high in protein, a source of calcium and contains fewer than 100kcals per portion have a real opportunity to capitalise on this momentum.”
Willow, the much-loved alternative to butter from Saputo Dairy UK, is launching in a 500g spreadable tub format. Willow Spreadable 500g is ideal for shoppers who are seeking affordability without sacrificing taste when it comes to lunchtime meals.
The new SKU offers a refreshing option for families who are watching their spending thanks to its lower price point. Prior to Willow Spreadable 500g, there was no branded spreadable butter at an entry price point in the market.
Commenting on the launch, Georgina Thomas, Head of Marketing for Butters, Spreads & Oils at Saputo Dairy UK, said: “At Saputo Dairy UK, we are always looking to support consumers and their ever-changing shopping needs. Willow Spreadable is a versatile, great value alternative to premium spreadable butter. The new 500g pack is ideal for families of all sizes seeking even more for less and presents us with an opportunity to capture price sensitive shoppers who have previously opted for private label.”
Saputo Dairy UK will be supporting the launch of Willow Spreadable 500g with instore, online and depot activity.
Matt Collins, Trading Director, KP Snacks, comments: “Food to Go remains an important mission and scalable channel, serving a transient population and on the go society. The Food to Go market is rebounding with a return to pre-pandemic routines boosting footfall.
“We are confident about the future of the category, having already seen significant recovery in the sector, and our portfolio is well-placed to capitalise on and drive singles recovery. At KP Snacks, we are continuing to excite and interrupt with flavoursome innovation, having the right brands in the right formats, meeting changing shopper missions as needs adapt, and building brand equity by doing the right thing. This means that we are focused on acting in a more socially responsible way in every part of the business, whether it be through packaging reductions, healthier products or promoting healthier lifestyles.”
Weekday lunchtimes are the most popular time for eating on the go, with 62% of consumers saying they enjoy picking meal deal combos (Mintel). It’s key that retailers offer the right core range in the right formats to capitalise on mealtime occasions, boosted with the right promotions and in-store merchandising.
Retailers should look to create value by understanding customer expectations, whether that be through premium or value offerings. 53% of shoppers look for meal deals when buying food to go (IGD) and 34% of shoppers say they would pay more than £5 for meal deals if the products were high quality (Harris Interactive). Many office workers have not gone back to the office full time. Hybrid workers may view food-to-go as more of a treat if purchasing less frequently and will likely be willing to spend more, meaning there is opportunity to create premium lunch deals catered to part-time office workers.
KP Snacks portfolio delivers the top three selling meal deal SKUs. Hula Hoops Big Hoops BBQ Beef is the top selling PMP in the convenience channel, worth £12.2m, and takes the No.1 spot for best-selling Meal Deal choice (Nielsen IQ). The Hula Hoops brand is worth £179.6m and growing at +19% (Nielsen IQ). McCoy’s Salt & Vinegar and Flame Grilled Steak are the No.2 and No.3 best-selling meal deal choices, perfect for livening up lunch.
Andrew Bradshaw, UK Sales Director at Dole Sunshine Company, comments: “I think there’s no doubt that many consumers are looking to eat a healthier diet. However, a recent survey on attitudes to healthy eating revealed that 32% (Mintel) of people admit that money concerns cause them to eat less healthily.”
For many consumers who are shopping on a budget, fresh fruit and vegetables can be one of the first things to come off the shopping list, which really highlights the importance of retailers and brands who are committed to supporting healthier choices for their customers, and specifically helping people to eat healthily on a budget.
However, healthier choices don’t have to be more expensive, as consumers can buy a four pack of Dole’s fruit in juice cups for just £2.19 which offers them a great tasting and healthy product at a price most can afford which are perfect as a lunch or food to go option.
“I think in general, shoppers now understand that ambient goods increasingly have a role to play as they not only offer good value and have longer shelf lives, but in the case of our Dole packaged fruit range, can also be one of your five-a-day and a healthy part of their overall diet,” adds Bradshaw. “Packaged fruit is certainly one of the key sub-categories that wholesalers should be offering their retail customers, because we know that consumers are increasingly looking for healthy food options which are easy on the pocket.”
“The cost-of-living crisis is impacting the food to go sector, like any other, as consumers are increasingly either going for cheaper options or opting for bringing a packed lunch from home,” says Bradshaw. “However, this could present some opportunities for wholesalers and convenience retailers as they can offer cheaper options compared to some larger foodservice operators. This particularly brings into focus the appeal of lunch ‘deals’ which offer genuine value to the consumer, with a recent Mintel report highlighting that this would appeal to nearly 60% of consumers.”
Dole’s best-selling products are the Pineapple, Mandarin, Mixed Fruit and Peach variants of its fruit in juice range and come in convenient and recyclable packs which can be eaten at home or on the go.
The recently launched 198g Dole Tropical Gold Pineapple and Dole Tropical Fruit in Juice packs are the perfect portable and healthy snack for on the go. Ideally suited to the chiller, they not only taste great, but have a minimum delivered shelf life of over 90 days to minimise waste, whilst delivering all the health benefits of fresh on the go, and even come with a handy wooden toothpick to aid eating on the move.
Another newcomer to the Dole portfolio, Fruit and Cream dessert range, is also a very credible option for a lunch. It combines sun-ripened fruit with a tasty and smooth plant-based cream and is available in two flavours that consumers love, apple and cinnamon along with peach and vanilla. The range contains real fruit pieces with only natural fruit sugars, is one of your five a day and is available now, with an RRP of just £2.49 for a pack of four.
Dole Sunshine Company is the UK category leader in packaged fruit snacks, with its entire product range containing 100% real fruit, with no added sugar in any of its fruit in juice range. The latest data shows Dole has a value share of just over 58% of the fruit in juice cups category and a value share of over 85% in the fruit in jelly cups category. All the variants in the range are less than 100 calories per serving and come in convenient and recyclable packs which can be eaten at home or on the go.
Richard Cooper, Senior Brand Manager at, Dr. Oetker UK, comments: “For many operators, food-to-go has seen higher sales levels than pre-pandemic and they want this to continue as a rising trend to drive incremental sales.
“By 2027, we anticipate the food-to-go market will be worth £23.4bn; 28% more than 2019 (GD). In terms of current value, recent data reveals 30% of UK adults purchase food to go at least once a week (Lumina), with pizza the most ordered takeaway dish of 2022 (Foodhub). In light of these latest statistics, we expect to see sales of our on the go ranges increase for 2023, particularly following the launch of our two latest delicious pizza on the go offerings – Chicago Town Weekender Stuffed Crust Salt & Pepper Chicken and Chicago Town Weekender Stuffed Crust Philly Cheese Steak Pizza.”
Dietary requirements also remain a big trend, particularly with the continued popularity of Vegan, with 39% of people eating less meat than they did a year ago (Nielsen IQ) and over 30% of consumers identifying as flexitarian (Nielsen IQ). As a result, it is crucial for operators to have both vegetarian and vegan offerings, plus gluten free, available within their grab-and-go fixtures to tap into this market sector, and to ensure food-to-go remains inclusive of dietary restrictions.
Dr. Oetker is launching a new flavour Takeaway to help operators drive new shoppers to the category with a new Chicago Town Pepper no-ni available from September as part of its hot food to go portfolio.
“Another key factor for this could be the rise of more dayparts other than the traditional lunchtime moment,” adds Cooper. “Snacking occasions throughout the morning or afternoon have made food-to-go more of an all-day offering, as opposed to just dinner time, and therefore companies must ensure they are offering a strong variety to fit differing customer needs throughout the day. We have also seen the evening occasion grow significantly as operators offer bigger solutions like full pizzas to convert more shoppers in their evening commutes.”
Shaun Whelan, Jack Link’s Convenience/Wholesale and OOH Controller, comments: “The jerky and biltong meat snacks category is one of the fastest growing categories in convenience.”
Total sales for the jerky and biltong meat snacks category are growing extremely strongly in the convenience sector over the last 12 months – by over a third in value and over a quarter in units (AC Nielsen July 23). The category has more than doubled in value over the last five years, growing in both value and volume, and has the headroom to double again as still less than one in ten households buy it.
The jerky and biltong meat snacks category is becoming more popular in the convenience sector as we see more and more shoppers search out high protein, tasty convenient snacks that are seen to be healthier alternatives to traditional snacks. The opportunity to meet shopper demand and unlock additional sales is huge.
Jack Link’s Beef Jerky Original 25g has the highest unit rate of sale of any product in the category, providing shoppers with an accessible opportunity to enter into the category. The Beef Jerky is available in two other flavours – Sweet & Hot and Teriyaki.
Ross Davison, Head of Convenience at Kepak (Foods Division), home of Rustlers, comments: “Meal Trak data from TWC shows food-to-go occasions across out-of-home establishments are all in decline, however forecourts (+29%) and convenience stores (+8%) are rebounding well post-pandemic, with an increase in food-to-go occasions compared to 2021.”
The desire for consumers to treat themselves by trading up, which was so prevalent during the pandemic, is now giving way to the need ‘to cut costs’ and for ‘speed’ and for ‘something that will be filling’. Rustlers’ Cook in Box range, from the £107.1m chilled ready meals brand (Nielsen) synonymous with hot quick and tasty meal options, fulfils these physical and emotive needs.
With 51.4% of Rustlers already consumed at lunchtime (Kantar), Rustlers’ Cook in Box range, with patented cooking technology, sees the brand expand beyond Chilled Ready Meals into the food-to-go fixture.
Rustlers also offers an innovative range of branded food-to-go solutions, with four retail concepts providing something to suit every store. Pre-programmed to cook the bestselling Rustlers SKUs, the microwaves can also be used to cook other products in store providing a cross-category self-service hot food to go solution, driving further demand and sales.
While price is a crucial factor in any purchase decision and is becoming increasingly important as shoppers look to tighten their belts, research from IGD shows that lunch on the go has the highest tolerance to price rises of all the out-of-home eating occasions (IGD).
Shoppers are willing to accept these increases due to the lower initial price points of meal deals and are justifying paying more per meal owing to hybrid working, which results in fewer days in the office and less purchase frequency.
Meal deals are favoured by shoppers due to their money-saving nature, with 53% only buying items included in a meal deal when purchasing lunch on the go (IGD). However there is also growing demand for more variety in the fixture while maintaining value for money for price-conscious consumers.
As food-to-go missions return, shoppers will continue to look to brands and retailers who can provide them with variety, inspiration and value for money.
Mike Chapman, Head of Wholesale at PepsiCo, comments: “Health has become a more important purchaser driver since the pandemic and is the fourth most important need for snack shoppers (Kantar). With health a rising consideration, shoppers are looking for their favourite flavours while choosing smarter snacking options. Through some of our most recent innovation we’ve been able to maximise taste through some of the nation’s favourite brands. By stocking non-HFSS products like our Walkers 45% Less Salt, Doritos Dippers and PopWorks ranges, retailers can also effectively merchandise end of aisles to tap into demand for these products and still offer punchy and popular flavours.”
With retailers able to benefit from great returns by stocking RRP PMPs, PepsiCo is investing heavily into its RRP PMP portfolio to help continue delivering strong sales for retailers.
PepsiCo has teamed up with Pizza Hut to launch two new permanent, non-HFSS flavours: Walkers MAX Pepperoni Feast and Walkers MAX Texan BBQ, both available in RRP PMP. Pepperoni is Pizza Hut’s number one flavour and its Texan BBQ flavour is iconic with a loyal following.
In June PepsiCo rolled out Walkers Prawn Cocktail into a PMP format. Walkers Prawn Cocktail is the third bestselling Walkers single flavour (Nielsen IQ) and Walkers is the no.1 PMP crisp brand (Nielsen IQ).
Prawn Cocktail as a flavour is rapidly growing in demand amongst shoppers at +11.6% in singles (Nielsen IQ).
Tapping into shoppers’ love for prawn cocktail flavours, Wotsits launched a sharing pack format in this flavour this year – the SKU has since contributed +28.0% to the brand’s RRP PMP growth.
Charlotte Assinder, Brand Manager, Urban Eat, comments: “After a challenging couple of years, the future of the sandwich market, within food-to-go (FTG), is looking steady for 2023 and beyond. By the end of 2022, overall sandwich category spend had grown by 15.9%, amounting to £4.2million, with a 11.3% rise in buyers and a 5.4% increase in shopping frequency (Kantar). By 2027, the market is predicted to be worth £23.1billion, 26% more than 2019 (IGD), demonstrating that the market has not only returned to pre-pandemic levels but exceeded them.
Alongside this increased health consideration, the latest consumer insight highlights that 65% of people in the UK are reducing meat (Samworth Research), and they’re not willing to compromise on taste and quality to do so. As such, it is clear that there is huge scope and demand for convenient, plant-based FTG alternatives (Kantar).
Launched in January 2023, the new Roots range from Urban Eat. is the perfect one-stop solution for retailers aiming to maximise this opportunity. The Roots range has been carefully developed after extensive market and shopper research to offer quality, plant-based options that appeal to a broad range of consumers.
The Roots range is made up of two sandwiches: tangy Cheeze and Pickle with refreshing tomato and lettuce and Falafel and Houmous, complete with vegan mayonnaise and crunchy salad, as well as two wraps: the brand’s Tomato and Pesto wrap, made with herby pesto and juicy tomato, along with a new option – Spicy Bean wrap, complete with a three chilli sauce.
With Roots, Urban Eat has developed a lunchtime offering full of flavour and variety that appeals to a broader target audience than just those with a vegan diet. Resonating with flexible meat reducers as well as devoted meat excluders significantly increases the brand’s audience, which in turn offers a bigger commercial opportunity for retailers and operators nationwide.
The Roots range is also perfect for locations close to university and college campuses as students represent a significant opportunity for retailers and foodservice operators alike. The 18-24 age group is generally likely to be the most protected from the cost-of-living crisis, with many still living at home and having a reduced household financial responsibility. This demographic is therefore most likely to be planning to buy more FTG in the coming months, and least likely to say they cannot afford the same food-to-go spend in the future (IGD). Additionally, due to younger shoppers being more likely to follow a ‘Better For You’ lifestyle, a rise in sales of plant-based FTG offerings at these sites is expected.
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