Focus On Food to Go and Meal Deals: 1 December

Focus on: Food to Go and Meal Deals by Ash O’Mahony

Download the synopsis here

Publishing: 1 December

Submissions deadline: 13 November

Advertising deadline 16 November

The story

Food-to-go is big business. The entire market – including meals, snacks and drinks – passed the £25bn mark this year after racking up an extra 4% in value. One thing is clear: those who get the right food-to-go offering and meal deals stand to make big bucks.

Key themes:

Out-of-home: How are cafés and coffee shops boosting their sales, and what lessons can supermarkets learn from this?

Ranging: What are supermarkets doing in terms of ranging to tempt in consumers? How do their offerings differ from those of out-of-home players? What are consumers looking for and how are supermarkets/QSRs/cafes catering to that demand?

Counters: What are the latest innovations in supermarket counters and to what extent are these bringing in the punters? How about innovations that are looking to mimic popular formats?

Service: How does the service differ in supermarkets compared to food-to-go specialists? Are specialists seen as quicker, and to what extent will innovations such as mobile pay and on the go bars help bring in custom?

Location: To what extent is the food-to-go game simply down to location?

Kantar data: Using Kantar commentary, we explain the factors affecting the different areas of the food-to-go market from snacks to quick meals and drinks plus the factors affecting the performance of the different food-to-go channels from supermarkets to cafés.

Innovations:  We identify four new products that ideally have not appeared in The Grocer before. including launch date, image and RSP.

Christmas food-to-go innovations: A run-down of the most outlandish festive food-to-go innovations this year.

Key questions the feature is likely to address:

 What consumer trends have impacted the category over the past year?

 How have promotional strategies (both in terms of price and marketing) evolved?

 How has merchandising changed in the market?

Online Listicle to go live on 7th December: The most innovative Christmas food-to-go options