As we launch our next London food-to-go safari on March 20, we take look back on some of the key developments over the past year.
From a macro perspective, the picture has been mixed. Offset against more people working in London more often, and the continued buoyancy of leisure traffic to the UK's capital, there have been significant headwinds for many to face into. From a broader concept and proposition perspective, we highlight some of the key developments we've witnessed over the past year.
1. Healthier specialists in expansion mode
Farmer J. atis. The Salad Project. They are all a lot more prominent in the London food-to-go consumer's mindset than they were one year ago. Fresh, healthier ingredients, put together in attractive bowls and (in the case of Farmer J) fieldtrays, lie at the heart of their appeal. And for us a key takeaway is how both atis and The Salad Project have a broad view of what salad can and should be - something that many others could learn from.
Office adjacent locations have been a focus until now, and that appears set to remain part of the focus. But more recent openings - such as atis' latest opening in Wandsworth - show some stretch in the range of locations. And operators in other markets are already further down the line with this in targeting different types of locations and missions. Dublin's Sprout & Co has a location now at Kildare shopping village, while Spain's Honest Greens, itself targeting a London entry in the near future, has a restaurant on Las Ramblas in Barcelona that, through choice additions to the menu including alcohol and desserts, positions itself to meet fuller and more leisure-oriented meal occasions at lunch and dinner.
One notable feature of these operations - compared with grab & go - is the high labour requirement – we’ d estimate up to 40% of sales in some cases. But their success to date shows that with the right proposition in the right locations, it need not be a barrier to growth.
Of course, this raises the profile of bowls in general – something we’ve been talking about for a while now. The challenge across the broader market is to deliver an eye-catching, attractive product that stands up well to shelf-holding and/ or transportation, depending on the business and the operating model. We’ve explored this in several safaris this year across different European cities - there is a lot of inspirational thinking out there to learn from.
2. Sandwich upgrade and evolution
If there’s one London opening that has sparked media interest over recent months it’s Sandwich Sandwich. The Bristol chain opened its first London location in July, and has already unveiled plans for its second site. A core principle behind the concept is delivering a better sandwich expereince, and, in the words of one reviewer on its website, more of a meal than a sandwich. But there's significant broader activity under way in sandwiches, largely at the more premium end of the market. The recent London opening of Milan's De Santis, in Mercato Metropolitano Mayfair, and the extension of Coco di Mama's offer to many more Sainsbury's stores, are just some of the examples here.
3. New coffee expansion
In the past three years the coffee landscape of London has shifted significantly. Many will call out Blank Street Coffee and Watchhouse as reference points in this new wave. But there are others, too, not least Hagen Coffee, aiming to recreated a Copenhagen style coffee experience in relatively tight sites across London. What’s also different about Hagen is its social development programme, and how it seeks to get its customers playing a significant part in this through encouraging them to take part in its broader social responsibility programme, built in conjunction with Earnt. This in fact is the qualifier for higher levels of its loyalty scheme - customers can only become members of the Hagen Kaffe Klub through joining in with its social welfare activity programme.
4. Breakfast
Post-covid, reopening in London was slow. Footfall was initially modest, sales were sluggish, and many operators remained in survival mode, even some time after restrictions were lifted. And that caused many to reduce or even stop offering breakfast, with its additional costs and complexity making it a straightforward component to remove.
Yet right now we believe this is shifting. Recent visits to the likes of Farmer J and Coco di Mama have highlighted substantial menu evolution and a focus on targeting what some see as the holy grail around breakfast - healthy and hot.
It’s still early stages in stretching the breakfast palate of UK consumers, but there are significant opportunities here for those who are committed to building better breakfasts - we'll be running a breakfast safari for our clients in January to explore this further and look at the dynamics, trends, innovations and opportunities around this mission.
So what’s next?
We’re researching this right now, and will share our views at our Jan 14 food-to-go insights & meet up session. And if you're interested on digging deeper on this, and seeing best-in-class execution at the same time, then our March 20 London safari is designed for you. Some aspects that already stand out to us include the continuing evolution and opportunity in hot food, sandwich reinvention and better snacking. Get in touch to find out more and join us.
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