Pick me up before you go-go

Meal deals and snacks-to-go lead the way on the lunchtime occasion.

By Elena Dimama

Picking up a meal remains a favourite trend amongst shoppers, with weekday lunchtimes being the most popular time for eating on-the-go.

According to Mintel, 62% of consumers say they enjoy picking meal deal combos, meaning – with the right offer – retailers can capitalise on this particular lunchtime habit.

“By 2027, we anticipate the food-to-go market will be worth £23.4bn, 28% more than 2019,” Richard Cooper, Senior Brand Manager at, Dr. Oetker UK, says. “In terms of current value, recent data reveals 30% of UK adults purchase food-to-go at least once a week, with pizza the most ordered takeaway dish of 2022.”

Meal deal appeal

A recent study by IGD found that 53% of shoppers look for meal deals when buying food-to-go, with 34% of shoppers saying they would pay more than £5 for meal deals if the products were high quality.

What’s more, the increase of hybrid work led to food-to-go becoming more of a treat that is purchased less frequently, meaning a bigger opportunity for retailers to create premium lunch deals catered to part-time office workers.

“Food-to-go remains an important mission and scalable channel, serving a transient population and on-the-go society,” Matt Collins, Trading Director, KP Snacks, says. “The Food-to-go market is rebounding with a return to pre-pandemic routines boosting footfall. We are confident about the future of the category, having already seen significant recovery in the sector, and our portfolio is well-placed to capitalise on and drive singles recovery.”

Meanwhile, Cooper notes that food-to-go is “starting to diversify its offering, moving away from the classic pies, pasties and sausage rolls and offering more variety of product types, including pizza, wraps and toasties”.

Dr. Oetker Professional has launched a new snacking pizza, available in Margherita and Pepperoni, which can rest for up to three hours in leading hot holds, in a bid to help operators manage busy day parts and minimise waste.

Don’t forget to hydrate

A rise in demand for high-quality premium drinks gives independent retailers the opportunity to trade up in their offering.

In fact, the Proof Insight Summer 2022 Trends report found that the under-35s are treating themselves to better-quality drinks.

“Now that people are more often choosing not to dine out due to the cost-of-living crisis, as shown by 39% of UK adults saying they’ve had to cut back on eating out [YouGov], consumers continue to opt for premium drinks that can elevate their drinking experience,” Kat Jones, Marketing Director at Cawston Press notes. “High-quality soft drinks are something we offer at Cawston Press with our premium juice range, maintaining a strong consecutive growth over 2022.”

The brand is running a summer marketing campaign, highlighting how to create sparkling soft drinks from “simple” ingredients.

“With the saturation of the soft drinks market, local retailers can make the most of the category by stocking new unique flavours, a key trend to consider for attracting consumers,” Jones adds.

The Cawston Press Sparkling Juice Drinks range consists of traditional favourite juices such as Cloudy Apple and Sparkling Orange, but also offers flavours such as Sparkling Rhubarb and Sparkling Elderflower Lemonade.

Beef up the choice

The promising meat snack category is another way for retailers to capitalise on the lunchtime occasion.

“The category is growing in both value and in units and has more than doubled in value over the last five years, with the headroom to double again as still less than one in 10 households buy it,” Shaun Whelan, Jack Link’s Convenience/Wholesale and OOH Controller, says.

“The jerky and biltong meat snacks category is becoming more popular in convenience sectors as we see more and more shoppers search out high protein, tasty convenient snacks that are seen to be healthier alternatives to traditional snacks. The opportunity to meet shopper demand and unlock additional sales is huge.”