Food-to-go: inspirational concepts from Germany, Austria and Switzerland

22 hours ago
4 min read

Across Europe there's a lot under way across the food-to-go landscape. Here we focus on some of the concepts that gave impressed us recently across the DACH region - with some great things under way across Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

An intriguing market that continues to evolve both with and beyond heritage products

There is a longstanding tradition of bakery feeding into the German food-to-go opportunity in particular, and the combination of bakery and coffee has been a key emphasis over many years.

Sausage, leberkäs and kebabs have also been mainstays traditionally within this market. But the food-to-go market is evolving at pace and there are some fascinating trends coming through.

This is a huge area, so there's a lot going on and trends differ within as well as between countries. But here are what we see as key current trends within the market:

Healthier options are sought after, and there's a growing opportunity here - plant-based is a key part of this.
Value for money remains important (though how this plays out varies by market )
Sustainability in its broadest sense is an important consideration, and there's a lot of operational best practice to learn from here.
Protein is a continuing growth area.
Fast food reinvention is providing some differentiated growth concepts, such as Mangal x Lucas Podolski, a premium kebab chain owned by the former German international footballer, and Mmaah, focused on Korean chicken.

With that in mind, we share some of our latest insights on food-to-go concepts to watch:

Dean & David

From origins on a site close to Munich University in 2007, Dean & David now extends to over 160 locations and has an annual turnover of €140m. The origin story has similarities with that of US salad bar Sweetgreen, in the founder David Baumgartner identifying a lack of healthier food-for-now options and seeking to redress that. Bowls and salads for a large chunk of the menu, but overall there's a strong healthier positioning that extends across a wide menu.

Backwerk

We've often highlighted the potency of the bakery coffee combination, and Backwerk has built its entire business around this. So if you're a retailer, it is a great concept to visit if bakery and coffee are part of your growth opportunity. Since 2017 part of the Swiss group Valora (which is since 2022 part of the Mexican business FEMSA), Backwerk has 350 locations. A self-serve operating model means it's a labour light operation. Average turnover per location is c. €700,000, with many operated on a franchise basis.

In our view, the exportability of this is high (already in the Netherlands) but the key exportability, would, in our opinion, be in applying the format and making it locally relevant.

Haferkater

Haferkater's core focus is on porridge, but in tandem with this, and aligned with a foc ison meeting earlier daytime missions, it has recently been building the coffee side of its offer. With almost 30 locations across Germany (and one in Vienna), it has a strong focus on railway stations and airports. More recently it has been seeking to develop stronger appeal beyond its core morning daypart with a range of wraps and salads,

Fat Monk

A key trend across Europe and beyond has been the growth of healthy bowl led concepts, and Vienna based Fat Monk is a growing presence across Austria and southern Germany. Traditionally and primarily focused on Vienna, in addition it now has three sites in Munich, and further locations in Graz and Salzburg. A seasonally rotating menu and a proposition that includes different sized bowls means the proposition can flex neatly around different missions and customer needs.

KAIMUG Thai

KAIMUG Thai has enjoyed considerable success in Germany, expanding into Switzerland through franchise as well. There are around 15 locations in Germany (some of which are franchised). Founder Bernd Umgewitter gained the inspiration for the concept while living in Thailand, then returned to his native Munich to develop the concept. The menu focuses on wok dishes and Thai curries, and has been developed in both food-to-go and restaurant concepts. A shop-in-shop concept has also been trialled, in conjunction with REWE.

Hitzberger

Fresh. Healthy. Responsible. That's the ethos behind Hitzberger, which is a quality focused food-to-go chain founded by double Michelin starred chef Eduard Hitzberger. There is a strong focus on fresh, quality ingredients, including organic and fairtrade wherever possible. Part of Migros, Hitzberger's focus is on Zürich. The menu comprises of poke bowls and ramen alongside salads, wraps and sandwiches. It might only be a small chain, but its premium positioning provides strong inspiration for anyone looking at evolving and upgrading their food-to-go proposition.

Where are the opportunities for further development?

This is far from the extent of development, and specific cities across the region provide some exciting inspiration. In the coming weeks we'll be highlighting some of the retail evolution in this space across these markets. This is an area that many of our clients have taken significant inspiration from .

From the food-to-go specialist side, our framework shows a number of key opportunities:

Sushi - well established in supermarkets, less on the high street. We feel there's an opportunity for a broader Japanese food-to-go operation that offers great sushi as part of the mix.
Korean food - there's already some activity here around Korean chicken chains, could there be a broader Korean cuisine opportunity to take advantage of in the food-to-go space?
Italian - less pizza, but more schiacatta/ focaccia. There's a love of Italian food across the region, which feels like an opportunity to develop. Interestingly, Switzerland's Coop has developed a hybrid food-to-go / convenience format designed to target this very opportunity Sappori d'Italia.
Mexican/ tacos. Most notably in Germany, this is an underdeveloped area vs. many comparable European markets. and strikes us as an opportunity, for the right proposition.
A fuller healthier eating proposition - US dine in operator True Food Kitchen has often impressed us on visits to the US - could there be a role for a similar proposition across the DACH markets?