Food-to-go in London - latest trends and developments

Following several recent London safaris, we draw out some the key shifts under way across the food-to-go landscape.

 

1.        The continuing growth of fresh focused, bowl led concepts

Salad bars is easier to say. But for us, in its traditional, tight, British English definition, it's less accurate.

It is however clear is that operators with quality, fresh ingredients, curated into bowls (and sometimes plates) are growing fast. There's been significant expansion over the past year in particular at the likes of Farmer J, atis and The Salad Project for example, while Barcelona-based honest greens, offering a similar proposition, opened its first London location (branded as hg) in late 2025.

At each, a lunch will typically cost over £10, but in return customers are very well fed, with great quality products delivered in a large portion size. There's clearly a market for the bigger eat at lunchtime, for those with the right proposition. And that's encouraged others to look at this as an opportunity - for example Pret, which introduced its own super plates to tap into this opportunity. Others may well look to make similar moves.

At the same time, we've been impressed on recent visits to Tossed, combining fresh ingredients and healthier meals with friendly price points - a proposition that has helped them to recently open their first non-London store, in Nottingham.

2.        The evolution of the retailer meal deal

 

One significant development over recent years in food & drink retail has been the addition of a premium meal deal tier, in addition to the long established standard meal deal. But dig deeper into the detail, and this is very much the tip of the iceberg in how meal deals are evolving. For example, more retailers are targeting their meal deal to include breakfast options, while shifts are under way to add more hot food into the deals. But perhaps the most seismic shift has been in the snack element of meal deals – we’re seeing much greater variety coming through here, including more fresh products and more high protein lines.

An interesting development in 2026 has been how more food-to-go specialists have moved more strongly into meal deals, Pret and Greggs being two particularly prominent examples. Whether this is the right mechanic or not remains to be seen and probably depends on the operator. Of course, there are ways of adding a differentiated approach here – as Pure has done with their ‘add a sidekick’ deal, where customers can add up to three additional snacking items to their main at a reduced price of £2.99 per item.

3.        The further rise of bakery-led concepts and new takes on sandwiches

 

Gail’s and Greggs are the traditional reference points here, but there’s significant further development coming through. And we are currently seeing many new independent bakeries opening across a growing number of UK towns and cities. Social media is also playing an important role here, and encouraging more innovation across the sector, which is increasingly feeding through to retail bakery as well as specialists. And we're seeing some impressive international operators looking at the UK, not least Zeit für Brot, which opened its first UK bakery in Islington last year. From a sandwich perspective, Sandwich Sandwich has been capturing many of the headlines around new wave sandwiches, but Dal Fiorentino is also making a growing impression on the market.

4. Green continues to be the new black

Matcha is increasingly feeling like it's more than a one season wonder. Meanwhile, while Dubai chocolate's moment in the sun may be over, the pistachio that made it stand out to begin with remains in focus.

5.        Food hall expansion and evolution

 

There’s been significant expansion in London over the past five years, with – depending on your definition – somewhere between 15 and 25 locations now operational across the capital. Some of the traits and trends we’ve spotted recently have included:

• Prominent locations that help support the development of destination status.

• A willingness to work with traders specialising in considerable breadth of global cuisines.

• A focus on making the experience, with personality and hospitality key – but relatively few interactions and a focus on using technology to service more needs. One extension to this is at Market Place St Paul’s, where robotically cooked Korean chicken is being introduced.  

6.        More Asian – and Korean – food coming to the fore

 

And the theme around the growth of wider Asian and perhaps specifically Korean food is one we’ve witnessed over recent months. We’ve been struck by the strengthening Korean food focus at Wasabi and impressed by the recently opened ONGGI Korean food counter at Waitrose King’s Cross.

Want to join one of our upcoming safaris? Book now for one of our upcoming sessions:

• June 16 London convenience safari

  
  

• September 15 London food-to-go safari

  
  

• November 12 Dublin safari .

  
  

Can’t wait or don't like to share? We can build you a custom safari or food-to-go deep dive session – get in touch via gavin@foodfuturesinsights.com .