Customer Missions: Sandwiches & chilled snacks

Remember the ban on smoking in public places that came into force in England back in 2007?

Successful pubs soon realised that once people couldn’t puff on the premises, investing in decent food was the best way to attract new drinkers inside.

There are some striking similarities with this situation and what’s going on in the c-store sector right now. New laws on the horizon that make selling tobacco trickier have meant that some stores are instead looking towards fresh food to keep sales strong - and that often means expanding the space available in the chiller.

Avtar Sidhu’s experience is a case in point. After buying and turning around a Kenilworth c-store he’s now set to re-open Roseland Stores as a Simply Fresh this July. For Avtar, the emphasis on ‘fresh’ is underlined by investment in chilled sandwiches and snacks.

“Fresh is really going to be the driving force for us,” he says. “We’re an affluent area so we’re pushing the healthy eating message. And for us that means fresh and chilled rather than frozen. For instance, we’re not doing any frozen ready meals. It’ll all be chilled.”

Avtar says he’s spent about half a million pounds demolishing the original space and then remodelling the store. Central to the concept will be new super-sized chillers.

“I’m having 15sq m of chilled refrigeration with the all fridges at double height,” he says. “The extra height gives you the flexibility to cross-merchandise as you can put almost anything in there. It also doesn’t cost much more to have the bigger units.”

Cross-merchandising will be at the heart of the store’s chilled food offer. Says Avtar: “We live in a society where people haven’t got much time. So, as a convenience store retailer, your role is to enable customers to come in quickly, get what they want and go in a stress-free environment,” he says. “Cross-merchandising in the chiller is definitely a part of that. By offering a sandwich along with a drink and a snack - signposted by proper POS - you’re encouraging them to buy two more components. It’s making it so easy you’re taking away the choice for them in a way!”

Along with an olive bar built into the counter, the store will sell fresh sandwiches, wraps and baguettes, plus pasta and salad pots.

The presence of sandwiches in the chiller should be a smart one, since HIM senior research manager Blake Gladman says that the traditional sarnie is still a big draw for customers. “When we look at the food-to-go mission, the main food or drink product driver to stores for shoppers on this mission is soft drinks, but second is sandwiches,” he says.

“And with shoppers looking into a lunch-time solution, the sandwich (or sandwich alternative) and its relative value and quality are key triggers in driving the choice of store.”

He adds: “Food to go represents 14.7% of total convenience trade spend as a mission. This and meal occasions are the two missions that have seen trade spend growth in this year (at 4%), compared with both top-up and treat, which have seen a trade spend decline.”

HIM research reveals that nearly half (45%) of food-to-go shoppers rate ‘filling’ as an important factor in their sandwich choice.

According to Country Choice senior marketing manager Rebecca Whitmore, there’s no need for most c-stores to ape Prêt à Manger and load up on upmarket crayfish and pesto-style selections. “There’s lots of interesting stuff around new flavours such as sweet chilli chicken,” she says. “But the top three fillings are still chicken, followed by cheese and then ham. These never seem to change!”

“For retailers this means you don’t have to be worried about a big range. As long as you have the chicken, a vegetarian option - and maybe some fish - you’ll have it covered. Plus, if you want variety you can change the carrier - say from a baguette to a wrap - and add it that way.”

As well as filling, Gladman states that provenance is important as consumers start asking searching questions about where their food was sourced.

Luckily, at McKinnon’s Spar in Ilminster, Somerset, when customers ask about sourcing, the staff can often reply “they’re made just up the road”.

Laurie McKinnon says that one of the store’s most popular chilled lines is from Bonner’s, a local butcher and deli that supplies a full range of pasties, snack rolls and sandwiches.

“People really love the local angle,” he says. “They like the fact it’s from a butcher that’s been in the town centre for years. Everything is sold the day it’s made and if we need more then they can get it for us straight away.”

Laurie says that they do “a lot of volume” in chilled - usually about 150 sandwiches a day across the board from brands including Spar and Urban Eat.

“We do a lot of chilled meat snacks as well,” he continues. “Our wholesalers have them on rotation so there’s always a pricemarked pack or a 60p deal. We sell a lot of items such as Fridge Raiders - especially if they’re on promotion.”

Elsewhere, manufacturers are attempting to find new ways to bridge the gap between the chiller and hot foods. For instance, Kepak has pioneered the new Hot Quick and Tasty (HQT) category - which it believes will grow to be worth a billion pounds in the next decade.

“The category covers micro-snacking, pastries, soups and quick-serve ready meals which can be taken from the chiller, heated up right there in the store, or taken home for later,” says Kepak marketing director John Armstrong.

“The heat-to-serve category over-indexes by 50% in convenience compared with grocery,” he says.

He advises retailers who want to offer hot food to start off by buying a branded microwave - “that way they can offer hot food to go without the expense of a hot counter”.

With plenty of ways into chilled sandwiches and snacks, the choice can be bewildering for stores caught between choices like whether to order in sarnies off-site or train staff to make them in-store. However, as Blakeman advises, the key to making chilled work is to keep it simple.

“Remember that shoppers spend on average five minutes in store,” he says. “They want quick and easy solutions so that they can make a quick (but informed) decision and then grab and go.”