Safeway is to roll out its flamboyant Fresh to Go hot food offer as 50 of its larger stores nationwide are revamped. It is also putting a freshly cooked food area into its smaller stores as they are refitted and redesigned. Staff nationwide are being trained to prepare hot noodles, pasta, pizza, Indian and Mexican food at the new look stores while customers wait. Three new staff training centres, in London, Edinburgh and the Midlands are due to open in the next 12 months. The extension of the fresh food offer comes after the success of the food hall prototype in trials which started in January at Safeway's flagship St Katharine Docks store. The concept was introduced as part of new chief executive Carlos Criado-Perez's "retailtainment" strategy ­ a drive to put a "wow" factor into shopping at Safeway. The rollout of the full Fresh to Go offer starts at two stores in London in the next four to five weeks. A further 50 smaller stores will be redesigned to include a mini Fresh to Go area. Steve Fox, operations director, south-east, said: "One of the four pillars of Safeway philosophy is that we are best in fresh'. "In the south east alone we have recruited and retrained 2,000 staff for the new look stores. " - Safeway is to extend its premium "Best" range from 200 products to 350 by Christmas. The range was launched with 80 products last Easter. Brand Manager Andy Thompson said: "We are introducing another 50 lines for summer and extending into ingredient products. The range puts a different spin on the classics. We won a Brammy award for our pork sausages with chopped pieces of apple mixed in." {{NEWS }}

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