How suppliers can evolve retail food to go beyond price

Ongoing financial pressures mean that retail food to go is set to benefit from value seeking behaviour in the short term. As consumers continue to manage household budgets carefully, affordable grab-and go-options are likely to remain attractive, and retail will see a slight gain in food to go market share. 

However, this advantage will not last forever. Our food to go forecast shows that real growth in the away from home sector will return from 2029. As confidence and spending power recover, consumers are likely to place greater emphasis on quality, freshness  
and customisation. As our latest report shows, retail food to go will need to compete on more than affordability to remain relevant and defend long term market share. 

Retailers are already adapting their propositions, but suppliers have an important role to play in accelerating this transition. The strongest opportunities lie in helping retailers: 

• Create affordable reasons to trade up.  

• Compete for more missions and occasions. 

• Develop operating models that balance growth with commercial viability. 

Create clear, affordable reasons to trade up 

The classic meal deal with a main, side and drink remains one of the most effective tools for retailers to capture footfall and drive spending. However, a single price point is becoming less capable of meeting a growing range of consumer budgets, expectations and competition from the wider food to go market. 

Retailers are responding with tiered propositions. Asda’s Exceptional meal deal sits alongside its core offer providing a clear trade up opportunity for consumers wanting to upgrade, while maintaining an affordable entry level price point. The challenge for retailers is to ensure tiered offers don’t confuse or overcrowd the meal deal landscape. 

This is where suppliers can help. Premium ingredients, larger portions, exclusive products and distinct packaging can create meaningful points of difference between pricing tiers, creating clear reasons to trade up and making the deals easier to navigate. 

Build food to go around consumer missions 

Retail food to go remains heavily dependent on lunchtime trade. This is partly because mornings and evenings offer less predictable demand, making it harder for retailers to execute daypart specific ranges, and for consumers to associate retailers with breakfast and dinner missions. 

In order to compete in these dayparts, retailers need to think beyond products and focus on the missions consumers are trying to complete. Tesco’s investment in its Bake on the Shop Floor units highlights how retailers are rising to the challenge. Having been trialled in 2024 and recently rolled out to 100 extra Express stores, these enable Tesco to bake fresh pastries closer to the shop floor, improving availability and product quality. 

Yet, for retailers to become a natural destination for breakfast or evening food to go missions, operational capability alone is not enough. They also need products designed around the specific needs consumers are likely to have in each situation. 

Suppliers can support this transition with products and formats tailored to different dayparts, missions and occasions. Breakfast ranges may call for frozen pastries ready for Bake on the Shop Floor, breakfast bowls or freshly squeezed orange juice, while evening ranges may demand a wider range of hot snacks and more substantial meals. 

Support the right foodservice model 

As retailers look to improve the quality and freshness of their food to go offer, many are exploring foodservice models, including concessions, partnerships and private label foodservice concepts. Each model offers a different balance of investment, complexity, control and return on investment.  

Tesco’s partnership with Yo! Sushi demonstrates how retailers can add premium  
choice without the operating costs or complexity of running a foodservice business. Private label models, such as Henderson Wholesale’s Delish, on the other hand, promise greater control over range and margins but require increased investment and operational capabilities.  

Foodservice models are likely to challenge existing retail food to go propositions and only make commercial sense if the potential for extra revenue or footfall outweighs the risk of cannibalising existing sales. Suppliers have a key role to play in helping retailers understand how different food to go propositions can work together. 

Suppliers can support by using their product expertise to create complementary products that work with, rather than against, foodservice propositions, such as drinks, sauces, sides and desserts. They can also help existing retail food to go ranges stand out by creating products that satisfy a consumer need that foodservice propositions do not. For example, price leading grab-and-go that wins on affordability and convenience.