Waitrose raises meal deal price by 10% to £5.50

Waitrose has become the latest major supermarket to hike the price of its main lunchtime meal deal.

The upmarket retailer has increased the price of the deal by 10% to £5.50.

Waitrose was late to the party in terms of introducing the offer, which kicked off in August 2023 and has carried a price of £5 since launch. The deal includes a main such as a sandwich, salad or sushi plus a drink and a snack.

“Our meal deal remains exceptional value for money – offering a wide variety of lunch options prepared with the quality ingredients you’d expect from Waitrose and following the industry-leading welfare standards we insist on,” said a Waitrose spokeswoman.

In August last year, Tesco increased the price of its meal deal by 25p to £3.85 for Clubcard holders and £4.25 without the loyalty card. This was Tesco’s third increase since 2022. At the time, the price of its Premium meal deal also changed, rising by 10% to £5.50 for those with a Clubcard and £6 for those without.

Tesco move came just two months after Sainsbury’s increased the price of its standard meal deal by 5% to £3.95. That was the second time Sainsbury’s increased the price of the deal in less than a year, after increasing the price by 25p in July 2024.

The Waitrose price increase comes less than a month after it announced it was investing more than £20m to cut prices across its own-brand products.

The retailer said in May that it was cutting prices by an average of 12% across more than 160 own-brand lines.

The move was the ninth round of its ‘New Lower Prices’ campaign, which like its meal deal also launched in 2023.