Sainsbury’s is ramping up its food to go offering with the launch of a new fresh deli-style range in stores.
The premium concept – called Kitchen Deli – began rolling into an initial 100 Sainsbury’s supermarkets and convenience stores this week, with plans to expand across more stores by the end of the year.
The launch range consists of 13 products, including wraps, sandwiches and speciality salads, as well as cold and heat-up ready meals, though Sainsbury’s also plans to extend the menu.
The lineup includes a Japanese style teriyaki chicken & sticky rice at £6.50, a tuna niçoise salad at £5.50 and a chicken, pesto & avocado wrap, which launch at £4.75.
The menu is tiered, with all sandwiches priced at £4.75 and speciality salads at £5.50, while ready meals will all cost £6.50 at launch. The supermarket said packaging had been designed to minimise the use of plastic where possible, with “most” of it being paperboard-based and recyclable.
“We are thrilled to introduce customers to Kitchen Deli, our new speciality selection of ready-prepared food that will add to and complement our existing range of own brand ready-meals and food on the go,” said Sainsbury’s director of fresh food Richard Crampton.
“We’re passionate about making inspiring, tasty food the focal point of how we show up for our customers, and Kitchen Deli will give them a new and convenient way to sample the best of what Sainsbury’s has to offer. We’ll listen carefully to everyone’s feedback in the coming weeks and months as we work to build on and improve the new range.”
Sainsbury’s move comes after the retailer announced the closure of its manned fish and deli counters across all stores in 2020.
That was then followed two years later with the closure of 200 of its in-store cafés in spring 2022.
In their place, Sainsbury’s has tended to favour external partnerships, including with Starbucks to open cafes and self-serve coffee concessions in some stores as well as with the hospitality group Boparan to open Restaurant Hub formats.
It comes after The Grocer revealed last week that Sainsbury’s was also set to extend its burgeoning partnership with Greggs, with the opening of cafés in some Sainsbury’s supermarkets by the end of this year.
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