SPAR Scotland rolls out new food-to-go brand CJ’s at pace
SPAR, the leading convenience store retailer in Scotland, continues to roll out its new food-to-go CJ’s brand in SPAR stores across Scotland.
Following the launch of SPAR Scotland’s new food-to-go brand CJ’s last year, 65 of the 108 company owned SPAR stores now offer CJ’s in stores. CJ’s is the over-arching food-to-go brand which is available in stores alongside other food-to-go brands. The dynamic food-to-go rollout programme also includes a hot breakfast and lunch offer along with support from local bakers for a range of rolls, cakes, sweet treats and hot savouries too.
Stephen Brown, Head of Food to Go at SPAR Scotland said: “We are delighted to hit our target of installing CJ’s into 65 company stores by the end of April. This has been a team effort across all the company departments, and we have exciting plans in place to complete the install into all 108 company stores by September this year.” SPAR Scotland is now looking to roll out the concept to independent SPAR retailers around Scotland.
“It is important that we work with our independent retailers to deliver an end-to-end market leading solution in the development of food-to-go including product, process, training and legalities,” said Brown. SPAR Scotland is proud of its partnership agreements with the very best of food and drink businesses from around the UK.
“We are working with our partners to bring the CJ’s offer to our stores. These include Costa Coffee, F’real Milkshakes, Rollover Hotdogs, Kepak, Dunkin Donuts, Greencore, Tango, Skwishee and CSM. Local bakery suppliers too like McGhees, Asher’s, JG Ross, Stuarts, Browning's, Nevis, Kerr’s and Goodfellows have all helped to support the process in stores. These bakers are local to the stores and well known in the communities which gives CJ’s a unique local link. We continue to develop the best practices of national and global brands and have industry leading compliance standards through the hard work of our store teams,” Brown added.
This has been the biggest investment by SPAR Scotland for many years. The business has taken inspiration from visiting our SPAR partners in the UK and Europe, the best retailers across the country and further afield from the USA to Asia.
Results to date have been excellent as the offer has given customers another reason to visit the SPAR stores. Over 6 million fresh morning rolls have been sold to date in CJ’s along with coffee sales up 138%. This has been driven by its now famous breakfast link deal which sees a breakfast roll sell for £1 with any coffee. The halo effect too is tangible with the retailer reporting growth in all categories especially soft drinks and fresh foods.
“We have exciting plans to further grow our menu and continue to develop our food for now whilst also offering great food for later. There is a strong new product development pipeline in place to take advantage of seasonal and new trends.” SPAR Scotland has developed its own I compliance app to help support stores and area teams who are providing practical support and coaching to ensure consistency.
“We see food-to-go as one of the fastest growing categories within our stores and with this huge investment we are making, we are confident SPAR in Scotland is leading the convenience sector,” concludes Brown.
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