Price, convenience and health will be key factors in tapping growth in the food to go market, according to analysts.

Food-to-go sales through sandwich and bakery retailers are set to be worth £3.5bn in 2022, up from £3.1bn this year, research by insight agencies MCA Insight and Him have revealed.

According to the MCA & HIM UK Food To Go Market Report 2019, the total UK food-to-go market will rise 3% year on year in value to £21.2bn in 2019. Within that, convenience stores will account for around 30% of the market, and sandwich and bakery retailers 14.8%.

“The food-to-go market is pivotal to the convenience and bakery/sandwich sectors,” said Him research and insights director Val Kirillovs. “Our research highlights price and convenience as two of the key trends that retailers need to focus on.”

He added that consumers are placing greater importance on range and, in particular, healthier options.

“Those retailers that are seeing great success in food-to-go are offering a variety of hot and cold options that cater to the needs of their particular shoppers.

“These will be best placed to maximise their share of the £0.5bn prize for convenience retail and £0.4bn prize for sandwich and bakery retail that has been forecasted for the channel over the next three years.”

Grocery retail is expected grow its food-to-go value by £0.5bn over the next three years.

Researchers found that, despite continuous growth for the total market, convenience stores have lost market share to food-to-go specialists that have improved availability, quality and speed of service.

The MCA & HIM UK Food To Go Market Report 2019 features exclusive research conducted through 72,000 online consumer surveys, 20,000 face-to-face shopper interviews and analysis of MCA’s market sizing and company tracking databases.

For further information, visit MCA.

Topics