No menu has been unveiled but it is likely to include breakfast items such as bacon rolls and porridge, as well as baked items like sausage rolls and pasties
WH Smith is set to put hot food on sale as it competes with Greggs and Pret a Manger. The chain wants to add hot food options for shoppers after introducing an own-label range of sandwiches in May.
The menu is likely to include breakfast items such as bacon rolls and porridge, as well as baked items like sausage rolls and pasties. The company said it has seen “record weeks” for food sales since the launch of the Smith’s Family Kitchen range of 34 products, mainly sandwiches, in May.
Managing director, Andrew Harrison, told The Grocer: “We don’t have as much of a cohesive breakfast offer as we’d like, and we know that that is a really important day part.” He said the retailer is in the “early days” of the process of working on the hot food options.
Mr Harrison said: “Over the next couple of years, we’ll be starting to dial up some of those options. The next year for sure is about optimising what we’ve got.”
Its high street stores have come under fire in customer service surveys conducted by Which? However, in recent years, the firm says it has worked to transform itself into a “one-stop shop for travel”.
It has more than 600 stores in travel locations like railway stations and airports, as well as hospitals. Mr Harrison said travel now accounts for 70 percent of the group’s total sales, with food and drink featuring in at least half of baskets.
In the past the chain has offered a range of meal deals made up of third-party brands. A move to offer its own menu is the next logical step, Mr Harrison said.
The retailer is also working with partners to expand its range. This includes selling new lines of sport nutrition products under the Myprotein brand.
The move by WH Smith to extend its food offer comes after both Pret a Manger and Greggs increased the number of outlets located in airports and railway stations over the past couple of years. Mr Harrison said: “Don’t get me wrong.
“We’re not talking about becoming a sort of fast food outlet – it’s just trying to broaden the range of options we can offer our customers. Just over 10 years ago we didn’t sell food, we now do 11 million meal deals a year.
“We sell 80,000 different combinations of product in our meal deals every week. That’s the scale we’ve got to.
“As we look forward, we just want to continue to make sure we understand what our customers’ requirements are and fulfil those needs.” The retailer was among a number of food and drink retailers affected by the e.coli outbreak in June, after supplier This recalled a batch of its chicken & bacon wraps.
The product is stocked exclusively by WH Smith. The recall was as a precautionary measure, and only affected a single line from a batch dated to June 18. None of its own-label products were affected.
Mr Harrison said: “It was almost zero impact on our business. Food safety is a big part of what we do. It’s at times like that that you get to test your own processes.”
The chain has been a fixture on high streets and stations since Henry Walton Smith and his wife Anna opened a small news vendor in Little Grosvenor Street, London, in 1792. After their son William Henry Smith took on the running of the business, the first station outlet opened at Euston in 1828.
