DAWN FARMS TOP 9 | ISSUE 20| 2019

GLOBAL UPDATE ON CONSUMER, MARKET AND MENU INSIGHTS. 

1. PRET A MANGER TO BUY EAT 

Pret A Manger is reportedly negotiating a deal to either buy fellow high street chain Eat or absorb its 94 sites into its own 450 store portfolio. One suggestion is that the EAT sites may be turned into 'Veggie Pret', to cater for the growing demand for plant-based meals. The talks come almost a year on from Pret’s own £1.5bn sale to JAB Holdings, the private wealth vehicle of Germany’s Reimann family, which owns Douwe Egberts coffee and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. Pret’s CEO Clive Shee recently said Veggie Pret’s menu needs to be distinctive from its sister sites in order to succeed as a standalone concept. Here Meatingplace questions the speed bumps on the plant-based superhighway >> 

2. IT’S WHAT CO-OP DOES

This week we attended Ireland’s first Food To Go summit hosted by Kepak. Co-op’s FTG representative spoke of the retailer’s solid performance and annual sales growth of 4.8% (w/e 24 March 2019), with 100 new stores having been opened this year to date. The convenience retailer shared its innovations in FTG – such as pop-up sites at more festivals this year including Glastonbury and its new on the go concept store in Manchester. The supermarket chain will also supply a new FTG range into Superdrug, following a trial in railway stations and airports this summer. Currently the Co-op is running a £10m advertising campaign to incorporate food, insurance and funeral care – the Co-op - It’s What We Do >>  

3. COME STAY WITH TACO BELL

This summer, guests are invited to stay at The Bell: A Taco Bell Hotel and Resort which is opening for a limited time this summer in Palm Springs, California. Taco lovers will be able to immerse themselves in all things Taco Bell from special breakfasts, cocktails, and even taco-inspired decor. Taco Bell frequently uses experiential marketing to connect with consumers such as hosting weddings at their flagship restaurant in Vegas or their ‘slide-thru’ window at the bottom of a ski hill in Ontario. These experiences make Taco Bell who they are as consumers never know what is coming next.  

4. CHIKTOPIA HATCHES FIRST UK STORE

Chiktopia, started by two friends with a passion to make the tastiest, ‘craviest’ chicken around, is hatching its first UK location in Lakeside shopping centre, Essex. The new 120-cover restaurant will be 100% ‘counter-free’ using kiosk and app ordering and will specialise in ‘better chicken’ (fried and grilled) along with skinny fries, salads, wraps and thick dairy shakes. Chiktopia follows in the path of other chicken specialists such as Thunderbird, Bird, Slim Chickens and Chick ‘n’ Sours keen tap into the premium chicken trend and of course challenge the domination of KFC and Nando’s. The concept is the brainchild of a group of industry experts from chains including Abokado, Tortilla, Ole & Steen. 

5.  MOD'S JOURNEY TO 1000

Fast casual Seattle-based pizza chain MOD has just acquired another round of funding - $160mn on top of $339mn raised to date via equity finance. MOD has more than doubled its size over the past three years, and now has 433 total stores in the US and 10 in the UK. Nation's Restaurant News last week named it the fastest-growing major restaurant chain in 2018 after it grew its footprint by a third. The pizza chain has also launched its first loyalty program and mobile app in 2019, with a points-to-dollars structure that also gives customers the option to donate their points to charity. 

6. A SALUTE TO EXCELLENCE 

PLMA took place this week in Amsterdam (‘World of Private Label’) and was bigger than ever with more than 15,000 buyers and visitors attending reflecting the record popularity of private label (now accounts for 40% of all products sold in 6 European countries). The Idea Supermarket displayed winners of the Salute to Excellence Awards, where German retailers came away with 17 awards, the most of any country, followed by the Netherlands and Ireland with 12 (including Freshways pizza). The retailers demonstrated plenty of innovation and winning products included Thai-inspired vegetable burgers, Indian butter chicken, bio hummus tahini and gluten-free snacks. This link helpfully shows a collection of food trends from the PLMA >>

7. LEON’S IRISH EXPANSION 

British healthy fast-food chain Leon has opened its first Irish store in one of Dublin’s most well-known areas – Temple Bar. This is the first of 20 planned restaurants openings over the next 4 years. Leon’s menu includes dishes that predominantly draw on Mediterranean food culture, with Moroccan meatballs, grilled halloumi wraps and kefir smoothies on offer. Similar to the UK, growth in food to go outpaced the overall Irish foodservice market in 2018 (5.2% vs 4.4% respectively) according to the Irish food board Bord Bia.  

8. DRIVING HOME DELIVERY 

Food delivery market in the UK is expected to be worth £6.3 billion by 2021 according to The NPD Group. Dinner remains the main occasion, but breakfast deliveries are up by 86% and lunch by 99% since 2015. A total of 775 million deliveries were made in the UK last year and mostly via apps instead of being placed over the phone. The 35+ age group is joining young consumers in getting food delivered to them with 45% more visits in the last three years. The NPD Group expects pub chains to offer more food and drone deliveries to be on the rise in the delivery channel in the next coming years.  

9. BE INSPIRED BY STREET FOOD

Estimated at £1.2bn in 2018 (MCA), the UK street food market is maturing and becoming a significant influence in foodservice. Food Spark has compiled a list of street food markets along with the signature dishes of some now well established traders– click here to view >> We haven’t been yet but intend to go soon to Italian Alley at Camden for modern Italian food while Tongue n’ Cheek’s Belly Connection (beef patty, pork belly, gorgonzola, pimiento mayo) sounds too good to miss. 

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