THE RISING IMPACT OF FOOD-TO-GO

Wholesale expert TWC Group, in partnership with the MealTrak tracking programme, has delivered its latest food-to-go market performance report which can affect garden centre caterers who offer takeout options in their eating outlets.

The report found that there was strong growth coming through in the latest quarter, with occasions registering at +13% for the 12 weeks up to 12 June. There has also been a shift in sub-channel performance, with food-to-go now outperforming ‘eating out’ occasions.

Within food-to-go, it is not only retail channels that have been in strong growth over this period, as sandwich shops and specialists (+19%) and coffee shops and cafés (+17%) are also back in positive territory. Interestingly, sandwich shops are benefiting from more on-premise occasions, while the growth of coffee shops is largely off-premise (i.e. consumed elsewhere).

Tom Fender, development director for 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. We’re also seeing significant changes below the surface of this topline performance, with foodservice channels catching back up with their retail counterparts.”

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