The Co-operative, the UK’s fifth largest food retailer, is piloting an expanded food-to-go concept in five stores.
It includes a serve-over hot counter including coffee, freshly prepared baguettes, traditional pasties and hot Elmwood chicken.
If successful, the concept will be rolled out across the UK.
At the same time, the Co-operative has launched a new food-to-go range in 1,000 stores.
New soup range in microwaveable pots
The new offer includes a ‘Heat Me Eat Me’ range, which includes sandwiches that can be taken away and heated up. Lines comprise a sweet potato falafel, a folded basil flatbread and a chilli tortilla wrap.
The are three new soups under the Co-operative’s premium brand, Truly Irresistible: Carrot & Valencia Orange, intense Tomato & Chilli and Italian Bean varieties. They are supplied in microwaveable pots for convenience.
The Co-operative has also extended and improved its range of Truly Irresistible sandwiches to include premium ingredients such as Taw Valley Cheddar, Aberdeen Angus Beef and Freedom Food Ham, plus specialty breads such as Foccacia and Ciabatta.
Customers can also pick up lunch-sized versions of the Co-operative’s own-brand Fairtrade Smoothies. Originally launched last year in 1-litre bottles, the two smoothie varieties – pink guava and mango & orange – are both made with Fairtrade fruit.
The new food-to-go also features a range of limited edition salads including Orzo Pasta Salad, Oriental Tuna Bean Salad, King Prawn Noodle Salad, Greek Salad and Wiltshire Ham Salad.
All of the items in the food-to-go range will feature traffic light nutritional labeling – another first, according to the Co-operative.