Scottish wholesaler Lomond – The Wholesale Food Co is advising independent retailers to go down the food-to-go road if they want to grow their business.
“Now is the time for retailers to start thinking about adding food-to-go to their offer,” said Sam Henderson, MD, Lomond. “Food-to-go is in significant growth and that rising demand shows no sign of slowing down. For convenience store retailers looking to grow their business, this represents one thing – huge opportunity.
“As we approach the autumn months, customers are going to be looking for winter warmers such as soups, sausage and bacon rolls, as well as good quality sandwiches and baguettes. Having an easy-to-implement range is critical for retailers when speed is of the essence for hungry customers.”
Lomond, which acquired Hall’s Direct in May, offers two sandwich ranges to support retailers looking for an entry-level route into food-to-go.
The ranges have accompanying crib sheets with step-by-step guides on how to put sandwiches together with images, nutritional data and essential allergen information. Named ‘Most Wanted’ and ‘Eat Around the World’, the ranges offer healthy margins, and retailers can order all the ingredients, the crib sheets, allergen/nutritional information for delivery the next day, even including the packaging.
In addition to its sandwiches, Lomond also has a wide range of soups that can be reheated and served in single portions, and cooked bacon, sausage and square sausage that can be easily reheated and served, reducing the need for retailers to have extensive kitchen equipment and no risk of cross-contamination.
“Our soups, cooked meats and sandwich ranges are the perfect entry-level way to offer food to go providing retailers with the quality, presentation and technical back-up to compete with the multiples that are crowding the high streets,” added Henderson. “With food to go, it’s critical that retailers don’t cut corners, and we want to encourage them to use the best ingredients to create food-to-go products that are well presented, healthy and on trend.”
