Food-to-go and out-of-home eating occasions grew by 13% in the 12 weeks ending 12 June 2023, new data reveals.
The data, from wholesale experts TWC Group in partnership with food-to-go and out-of-home tracking programme MealTrak, shows all retail channels experienced growth in food-to-go: supermarkets and multiples (+15%), total convenience stores (+16%), and discounters (+44%).
In addition, the figures show that sandwich shops and specialists (+19%) and coffee shops and cafés (+17%) are also back in positive territory. Sandwich shops are benefiting from more on-premise occasions, while the growth of coffee shops is largely off-premise. The strong performance of workplace catering (+29%) also suggests that employees are attending their workplaces more frequently than this time last year.
Tom Fender, Development Director at TWC, said: “It is fantastic to see double-digit growth for food-to-go and out-of-home eating this period – and importantly this is not just in value terms, but also the number of occasions, which were up +13% in the latest 12 weeks. We’re also seeing significant changes below the surface of this topline performance, with foodservice channels catching back up with their retail counterparts.”
“Whilst ‘something inexpensive’ is the fastest growing mission this period, the shift in channels suggests that value perceptions are changing, and this mission does not necessarily always equate to a supermarket meal deal. Indeed, there is strong growth in this mission coming through coffee shops and sandwich specialists. Consumers are certainly still playing it safe though, with ‘regular favourite’ in strong growth, whilst ‘something a bit different’ remains firmly in decline. ‘Something sweet’ is also in strong growth this period, with cakes and pastries performing particularly well.”
