M&S is planning a rapid expansion of its little known Lunch to You van sales operation.
The retailer first launched the mobile Lunch to You stores in 2005 and currently has 15 vans serving large industrial and business parks in five locations - Milton Keynes, Northampton, Leicester, Birmingham and Luton - which are not within the proximity of one of its food stores.
Now The Grocer can reveal that M&S is looking to grow the operation, which it runs in partnership with Greencore, to about 100 vehicles over the next few years. It is currently looking at other areas in the UK where it can roll out Lunch to You.
The vans sell an edited range of about 100 products based on its most popular food on the move products. The range also includes fresh soups and ready meals that customers can heat up in their office microwaves. A few M&S favourites, such as Percy Pigs, are also included.
M&S trading director Stuart Forder said the rollout was part of a wider drive to tap the increasingly important food to go sector. Currently, food to go represented about 20% of the retailer’s total food sales, he said.
“From our point of view it’s all about creating new channels,” he added. “In typical old-fashioned retailing you would take a big shop and put it in a smaller shop. Those days are gone, For us, it is about understanding the channel and the mission.”
As well as ramping up its vans sales, Forder said M&S would also be looking to accelerate the rollout of its standalone food to go stores.
The retailer opened its first M&S Food to Go store in Ludgate Circus in April this year and has since added a further three stores. It also plans to grow its food to go presence through its new partnership with British Airways, providing food for the airline’s short-haul flights.
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