him! has just spoken to 1,400 custo-mers while they are buying food and drink items from outlets of Burger King, Pret A Manger, Greggs and Subway. Only 6% of customers are currently buying an item that they didn’t intend to buy on arrival.

So what can actually you do to encourage customers to spend more in your outlets?

They asked:

What would appeal to customers if offered by the store?

Information about calorie or fat content of food 32%

Nutritional information about food 26%

More seating 24%

Wi-Fi/internet available 22%

Television in-store 15%

Meal deal 9%

Which of the following would you consider buying if offered in this store?

Smoothies 15%

Newspapers 13%

Chocolate bars 10%

Cereal bars 6%

Ready meal to heat up later 5%

Kids sweets 3%

Branded sandwiches (eg Ginsters) 2%

Time to check out the competition?

If you want to get more customers into your outlet, then you may want to check out the competition and understand why they have been so successful.

When him! asked food-to-go customers where they received excellent customer service they said:

Pret A Manger 21%

Greggs 19%

Subway 17%

McDonald’s 9%

My local independent sandwich shop/café/coffee shop 8%

Would you and your staff benefit from a trip down to the local competition? Look at things through your customers’ eyes. Why are these retailers rated so highly by customers?

Well a big factor is that these retailers are particularly good at being super-efficient and serving customers very quickly, while maintaining a friendly but professional manner towards them.

For more information on him!’s Food-to-go tracking programme please contact Katy.Moses@him.uk.com 07912 717 567 or visit www.him.uk.com