Food-to-go is a hotly contested part of the grocery market with the big chains such as Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Asda all ramping up their offer. However, the Big 4 giants have competition.
Scotmid Co-op, which operates almost 180 c-stores across Scotland, is boosting its food-to-go offer as it looks to stand out among big players in the convenience market.
Speaking at trade show Lunch!, Scotmid Co-op head of food-to-go Danny Scobie, said: “We don’t hide away from competition,” despite facing “a huge amount” from the likes of Sainsbury’s and Tesco.
“We’ve got to have something to make them [consumers] go across the road to us,” Scobie explained. “We don’t want to be the same as the rest of convenience.”
In a bid to stand out from the increasingly competitve convenience sector, Scotmid is focusing its efforts on hot food-to-go products, which Scobie describes as the retailer’s “biggest opportunity in terms of food.”
“Some people see food-for-now as an experience and what people expect to get for their breakfast or lunch is growing all the time,” he said. “You’ve got to be moving the bar, you’ve got to keep improving what you do.”
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Scotmid is launching a new store in Heartlands in West Lothian on Friday (29 September) which Scobie said will feature 15 to 20 new lines “that aren’t in any other stores and the majority of them are hot”.
He added that its stores are known for their “visual” service.
“Everything is made in the front behind the counter. People want to know what goes into it, who’s producing it, who’s preparing it.”
Scoobie also stressed the importance of “following the consumer” and “knowing who your customers are.”
He estimated that around 70% of Scotmid’s shoppers are male and predominantly tradespeople or transient on-the-go consumers. The biggest challenge for those customers is ensuring consistency as “they won’t necessarily be visiting the same store everyday.”
Scobie also noted that keeping on top of what’s happening in the fast evolving food-to-go market is critical.
“We go into all the retailers and into food-to-go specialists on a regular basis to see what’s happening. We’re not necessarily looking to replicate, we’re just looking at where the movement is going. We look at how we can be different and what we can do to really engage our customers.”
Looking ahead, Scotmid is prioritising growing its evening offer and online delivery, however, Scobie said it is taking this “step by step to get it right”.
“That goes right through to packaging and how it gets through the customers door because we will not necessarily be in control of the delivery driver. We want to make sure that the product the customer gets is in the condition that they expect.”
