Food-to-go insights & meet up session March 2026: in review

Earlier this month in London we held our first food-to-go insights & meet up session of the year.

Now into its third year, this edition included Foodmaker Founder & CEO Lieven Vanlommel, as well as Gavin and Matt's latest perspectives on the market. An excellent guest list and some inspirational conversations around the room complemented the presentations, Here's our summary:

1. Food-to-go has come a long way, but there's still a lot to go for

There has been huge evolution across the sector over recent years. As consumers, food-to-go has become a more important part of more of our lives. And at the same time the breadth of what's on offer across major cities has increased dramatically, with food halls, like our venue at Market Halls Paddington, playing an important role within that. Consumer expectations have therefore risen across a wide breadth of locations. In some segments of the market, notably on the retail side, the food-to-go proposition hasn't always kept pace. Yet there is a clear opportunity for many here . As Gavin and Matt often highlight, there is the classic retailer dilemma to overcome. To succeed in food-to-go often requires a different mindset and different KPIs vs. grocery retail. Food-to-go will rarely work as an add on, but if you're focused on the long term and considering how it can be a pivotal element of your offer and attract new customers and missions, then it definitely can.

2. Environment and hygiene factors play a key role in determining a business's food-to-go ceiling

The difference between being seen as a distress stop vs. a destination stop can be huge in terms of total sales and profit. Getting the right display, and presenting products in the best way possible, will inevitably give a better success rate. Freshness of product, ease of navigation of ranges and cleanliness of environment are among the other factors feeding into this. In London, we've seen how those who create a differentiated environment, like Farmer J, WatchHouse and Hagen, are seeing the rewards. Daily Provisions in New York and Boston has a similar positioning, while, also from the US, Mendocino Farms and Playa Bowls are both great examples of how to set a vibe and deliver a differentiated experience through the store environments. of course, this also needs to be backed up with the overall experience.

3. Operational efficiency, structures and processes have become more important than ever

More expensive labour remains a constant challenge, with two key implications:

• More food-to-go operators are looking at how technology can play a bigger role in production. The Sweetgreen Infinite Kitchen is among the best known examples here, but there are many others. At the same time there's a continuing shift towards more digital kiosk and phone based ordering, as a more efficient way of taking orders.

• Getting the right people (team members) in front of customers has become more critical. Customer - team member interactions are becoming fewer as technology becomes a more important part of the interface. So getting them right becomes more important. Poor hospitality will quickly be found out in this environment, so developing a culture that enables better customer relationships, with people as a key part of this, has become a more critical success factor.

4. Among global cuisines, there are some great things going on, not least around Asian food

Gavin highlighted some great examples from Australia around sushi and Japanese food - pointing to continuing opportunities for sushi to grow among specialists and across grocery retail, showing how 7-Eleven, with its Japanese icons range, is stretching appeal into new areas. He also shared various examples of different executions across a range of global cuisines, also highlighting the growth in importance of Indian and Middle Eastern cuisine in food-to-go. Another point that came across is how already well-established cuisines - such as Italian - are multi-layered, and, as the likes of Dal Fiorentino in London and Al' Antico Vinaio globally are showing, continue to offer new growth opportunities.

5. Hot food-to-go remains a key opportunity

We've been saying this for a while, and remain firm believers in this. In our view a strong hot food to go offer is a key enabler to longer term success in the food-to-go space. And we're encouraged at the significant new product development and experimentation we're seeing in this space from a wide range of players, not least Kepak, Rollover and the French operator MyPie. But linked to the previous point, whether you are a specialist food-to-go business or a retailer with food-to-go as an add on, consumers will judge you the same way. Serving food in its best state is therefore critical for driving customer retention and loyalty. In a convenience and forecourt environment, and picking up on wider trends, there feels to be a growth opportunity for chicken. Once a chicken offer is in place, there's good scope to add in accompaniments, such as grains, and very quickly an operator can move to a position of offering not just a more balanced food-for-now option, but also potentially food -for-later as well.

6. There's significant opportunity in better for you food-to-go development, which can unlock new customer bases

We were delighted to welcome Lieven Vanlommel, founder and CEO of Foodmaker, a man who is very much on a mission. His dream, which feeds through into his business' objective, is healthy food for everyone. Foodmaker supplies into several leading retailers across Northern Europe, and is investigating new market opportunities. Healthy and quality products lie at the heart of Foodmaker's positioning - supported by its own farm - and this has enabled some high profile collaborations for example with the Belgian Olympic team and cycling team Alpecin-Dekeuninck. There's some impressive development and collaboration here, including the Foodmaker Pro app. Foodmaker is an impressive operation across many different areas.

And of course, the implications of significant numbers of people on weight loss drugs, were a topic for conversation. There's lots of debate around this, but the implications for us point to growth opportunities for better quality, higher protein products in smaller portions - something that fits with wider trends.

7. We eat and drink more than three times a day - consider how you can tap into this opportunity

A feature of the market in the UK remains meal deals, which are spreading into more locations. Gavin & Matt highlighted the opportunity within these to attract new missions, talking about the rising importance in snacking and the associated opportunities.

How you can deliver better food-to-go

Want to be in the know about our upcoming sessions and/ or sign up to our (free) weekly food-to-go and retail update ? Get in touch gavin@foodfuturesinsights.com.

Want to better understand food-to-go best practice and innovation, how the food-to-go market is changing and define your best your opportunity to shine? Let's talk.

And if you want operational guidance on how to deliver food-to-go success, get in touch with Matt at matt@ftgnavigator.com. 

Next safaris to book your place on - for London on 15 September book here, and for Dublin on 12 November, book here.

But get in touch if you want us to organise a bespoke safari for you and your team before then.