ARE SANDWICHES SHOWING THE GREEN SHOOTS OF RECOVERY?

ISSUED: 8th May 2009

Britain’s favourite food – the great British sandwich – is weathering the recession better than expected, according to the latest data released by the British Sandwich Association for British Sandwich Week 2009.

While some people are ceasing to buy ready-made sandwiches to make them at home, others are spending less time in pubs and restaurants and having a sandwich lunch instead. And the result is that the overall number of commercially made sandwiches being sold has risen by 1-2% in the last year.

Spending on commercially made sandwiches is also up by about 5%, although much of this reflects increasing ingredient costs.

Together this means that the commercial sandwich market is now worth approaching £5.5 billion with commercially made sandwiches accounting for some 2.88 billion meal occasions. The average ready-to-eat sandwich now costs approximately £1.91.

However, while the overall market may be continuing to grow, the figures mask some good and bad stories for the industry.

In the retail market, while all the grocery multiples saw their sales dip in 2008, Boots has seen sales some sales growth, which is thought to largely reflect focus on its meal deal offer. Part of the dip in sales through grocery multiples can be accounted for by the fact that about a quarter of their sales are taken home and this market sector has clearly been hit more than some others.

The greatest retail losers, however, appear to be convenience stores and garage forecourts, both of which have lost sizeable shares due to a fall-off in consumer footfall and spends.

The continued march of Subway in opening new stores is also reflected in its growth, although the data suggests that overall bakers and sandwich bars are also doing well. However, the sector has had its casualties with some smaller marginal sandwich bars suffering.

In terms of fillings, chicken remains our number one favourite, appearing in three of the top 10 sandwich fillings.

The top 10 are:

Chicken Salad
Mixed Selection
Chicken & Bacon
Bacon/Lettuce/Tomato
Prawn Mayonnaise
Chicken & Stuffing
Egg & Cress
Ploughman’s
Cheese & Onion
Chicken Caesar

The findings come from the British Sandwich Association and are based on research by TNS Worldpanel, which monitors consumer spending on ‘Food on the Go’.

“The sandwich market should be a good barometer to the recession as we have found in the past that it tends to be one of the first sectors to show the green shoots of recovery, particularly as consumers tend to get bored with making sandwiches at home,” says BSA Director Jim Winship. “While people may rush to save money by taking lunch boxes to work, they also tend to quite quickly find that it is costly to do so as there tends to be a lot of wastage with ingredients going off before they are fully used up. It can also be very boring having a cheese and tomato sandwich every day!

“One piece of good news is that retail sandwich sales have perked up significantly in the last six weeks. While some of this can be put down to the improved weather, it appears to be a bit more than just this – which is, perhaps, a sign of good news ahead, although it may be rather too early to draw conclusions.”