Snack and grab
In Britain in the 21st century the sight of time-pressured employees munching sandwiches at their desks is common. Take an hour for lunch? Not in this "needs to be done now" culture. So, it's official: people who eat out at lunchtime are a dying breed.
When not at their desks, workers are on the move between meetings, offices or clients and are more likely to "grab and go" than stop for lunch in a restaurant or motorway service station. Last year alone almost two billion sandwiches were sold to take away at an average cost of just over £1.90, while wraps, bagels, baguettes and freshly made soups are the order of the day.
These snacks are eaten in a 25- to 30-minute break, leading to what's now called desk dining. According to a report from market research company Datamonitor (Caterer, 5 October, page 5), growing "time pressures and work demands have resulted in fewer workers taking time out for lunch in recent years".
This change in customer lifestyles has led to staff canteens, pubs and restaurants adapting their businesses to compete with the modern-day marvels that are sandwich and soup bars. Staff eateries have been modernised, while pubs and restaurants are becoming more time- and money-conscious.
One of the first chains to give people with less time more than just the traditional ham or cheese sandwich was Prêt à Manger, set up in 1986 by Julian Metcalfe. Metcalfe, who now presides over an empire of 100 shops and 2,500 staff, offered trendy sandwiches - a baguette filled with Camembert or ciabatta stuffed with avocado and mozzarella - that are fresh and quickly prepared. The average spend in Prêt à Manger is £3.20. Decor is modern, minimalist and bright.
Prêt's success highlighted the fact that sandwiches in staff canteens - the original choice for hungry workers - just didn't compare. And workers knew it. A Mintel report showed that these traditional feeding dens made up only 6% of places where adults buy their lunchtime snack - a drop of 3% since 1995.
But companies such as Catering & Allied and Eurest Sutcliffe are rising to the challenge. For example, Catering & Allied invested more than £3.5m in the staff restaurant and catering facilities at Deutsche Bank, London, creating a foodcourt with a state-of-the-art deli that feeds about 1,000 people daily, each spending an average of £3.60.
Following the high street's lead was an important factor in the project's success, for within 250 yards of the bank there are 149 branded and independent competitors. But rather than feel intimidated by the likes of Starbucks, ideas were adopted from them, such as using brand names and open counter displays.
Eurest Sutcliffe has also been developing deli bars and installing branded coffee shops. But the company is taking the "grab and go" momentum even further. It has developed an on-line ordering system that enables workers at some sites to pre-order sandwiches over the Internet. A new scheme called Desk Express is also being trialled in two satellite sites - one of which is London law firm, Clifford Chance. Using their PCs, staff can view a range of food offered in the take-away facility, order and pay for it. "It's anything we can do to add to convenience," says a company spokeswoman.
Convenience is not a word often associated with the "sit down and relax" restaurant sector, which is less affected by time-pressured customers. Its main problem is enticing diners through the door. One way is to offer lunchtime promotions like those run by the Financial Times (starting again this year on 20 January and running for two weeks). Another is to guarantee customers their lunch will not take too long to prepare.
The Restaurant Association's chief executive, Ian McKerracher, says he is aware of restaurants offering fixed-time lunch meals, but says he also knows of eateries getting themselves into trouble with the guarantees. "If you are making those sorts of promises," says McKerracher, "you obviously have to stick to them."
Nobody knows the pitfalls of this better than Yates's Wine Lodges. A six-minute delay in serving a £3.50 beef sandwich to a trading standards officer last October cost the group a £1,500 fine and £539 in court costs (Caterer, 7 December, page 7). A very expensive burger.
But the pros of offering this type of service outweigh the cons. In recent years there has been a fall in the number of people eating in pubs at lunchtime. However, as Bob Cartwright, director of communication for Bass Leisure Retail, points out, this overall decline in lunchtime trade has been balanced by a growth in evening custom. In the case of Bass, its own food sales rose 11% on 1999's figures and the company is looking to develop its catering side. One possibility is extending the sandwich range offered by including the modern-day favourite, wraps, although Cartwright is reluctant to reveal further plans.
In the end, however, it is the sandwich bars that are the real winners in terms of catering to the pressured lunchtime worker.
The introduction of wraps, ciabatta sandwiches and bagels has proved lucrative to many shops. Outlets such as the British-based Oi! Bagel company, which has three shops, sells about 10,000 of the steamed bread rolls a day in each store, with an average customer spend of £2.60. The branch in London's Oxford Street has a turnover of £1m a year.
Just as the number of desk diners is growing, so the sandwich shops are set to grow. A survey published last month by market research company Foodservice Intelligence puts the number of quick-serve outlets in the UK at 28,527 and this is set to increase. Oi! Bagel's managing director, Steve King, believes that, particularly in London, there is no limit to the number of outlets that can open and survive. In the case of Oi! Bagel, he says: "I do think we can open another 50 shops in the capital in the next six years."
Other companies that opened last year include Bushwhacker, which sells hot and cold wraps and hot dogs, and Swedish company Piadina, which has taken over the former Bon Bonniere restaurant in London's Great Marlborough Street.
But there's one big competitor the trendy sandwich bars haven't been able to rival - sandwiches made at home. According to Mintel: "Despite the inroads made by the catering sector into the bought sandwich market, consumer research found that 60% of respondents make their own lunchtime sandwiches." So, it seems that even if the hapless workers can't leave their desks, they still have time to make their own favourite sarnies.
Lunchtime facts
The traditional hour-long lunch has been reduced to an average 30-minute break
The average British worker spends £1.99 on lunch - enough for just a quick snack - whereas Spaniards spend the most, at £4.32, followed by Swedes at £3.98 and the French at £3.70
Of the eight countries studied by Datamonitor, only the Germans spend less than the British, at £1.85.
Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 4-10 January 2001
