Subway, the US sandwich chain, is to open three trial concessions in Tesco stores in a move that will give it a foothold in one of the major UK multiples for the first time, The Grocer can reveal.
The Tesco pilot, due to start in the next month, will take place in three Express stores in the north Midlands and south of England. The deal represents a major boost to Subway's plans to open 400 concessions in grocery outlets in Britain within the next four years.
Paul Heyes, development agent, said he was confident the pilot outlets would eventually lead to Subway concessions being introduced in large supermarkets.
He added: "If you put a Subway in a high footfall area, it's going to work. We are rolling out 1,000 Subways with Wal-Mart in the US. They work brilliantly in that kind of environment, and we don't see any difference between the US market and the market here."
Subway's positioning as offering tasty, healthy fast-food appealed to supermarkets that were sensitive to their image in relation to diet, he said.
"When it comes to healthy eating, we are right on the money in terms of where the consumer is now. They don't want cranky healthy food, but they do want choice."
Under plans originally announced in April 2005, Subway has set itself a target of having 2,010 UK outlets by 2010, with 20% of these situated away from the traditional high street location.
In Britain, the chain has now opened concessions in 11 forecourt shops and two convenience stores - operating in conjunction with Spar and BP. It also has eight concessions in Northern Ireland in Spar stores owned by Henderson Group.
Heyes said there were another 31 concessions in the pipeline in Britain - 28 forecourts and three c-stores. "We are talking to all the major symbol groups. We have just done a major piece of work in which we contacted every forecourt operator in the country and we are currently working through the responses to that."
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