#Sandwichgate serves up food for thought for Sainsbury's

Twitter users described it as “devastating” and “cruel”. One said it had taken away the “one moment of sunshine in my otherwise depressing life”. Another berated the loss of a dream.

No, we’re not talking about a natural disaster (or even the unwanted mental images sparked by the Keith Vaz revelations) – the centre of this particular Twitter storm was this week’s revamp of the Sainsbury’s £3 lunchtime meal deal aka #sandwichgate.

To the dedicated Sainsbury’s meal deal crowd, the revamp was not a change for the better. The holy grail of sandwiches, the Taste the Difference range, is no longer included in the deal. There is scant consolation to be found in its revamped 37 sandwich offerings available, which Sainsbury’s claim are “better quality and better value” than before.

The above-pictured ‘no mayo chicken’ is one innovation to come under particular fire. “I honestly don’t see why they’d introduce sandwiches like that,” the bemused Theo Edwards, founder of the 200,000-strong Meal Deal Talk community (yes, there is such a thing), told Vice in an interview on the #sandwichgate saga.

Even Sainsbury’s claims of ‘softer bread’ weren’t enough to appease Edwards, speaking on behalf of the maligned masses. “No one’s really going to care about softer bread when they buy their meal deals. They want what’s inside of the bread. So if you’re eating the chicken with no mayo, it doesn’t really matter – no one wants that,” he said. Looking at the decidedly sad chicken to bread ratio, it is hard to disagree.

The sheer level of ferocity prompted by its meal deal revamp is undoubtedly more than Sainsbury’s would have bargained for. Granted, much of the despairing commentary is tongue-in-cheek. But the underlying sentiment that made #sandwichgate the top story on the BBC news site yesterday seems genuine. The Sainsbury’s meal deal had clearly become a lunchtime routine for many. And when it comes to routines, no one likes change – especially those with an appetite for a bargain.

In particular, people who care enough about meal deals to be part of a dedicated meal deal community, are clearly not going to be impressed that other sandwiches – including Taste the Difference – are still available, just not as part of the £3 deal. Nor will they care that the price of some (non-meal deal) sarnies has been lowered.

As Edwards at Meal Deal Talk puts it: “That’s the main thing about the meal deal – to save money and get as much food as you can.”

Sainsbury’s, however, clearly felt that kind of approach wasn’t working out that well for it at the tills. 

As for how the majority of the Sainsbury’s customer base will now react, the jury is of course still out. But one thing is clear: given the huge strategic importance of food to go to the mults now, the way #sandwichgate plays out will be watched closely across UK grocery. And rivals will be all too keen to see how they might be able to turn the big Sainsbury’s sarnie scandal to their advantage.