Retail giant announces plans to extend food offering

Retail giant WH Smith is considering serving hot food in its transport and hospital outlets.

The Swindon firm introduced an own-brand range of sandwiches in May and now has plans to compete with Greggs and Pret A Manger by offering hot food items.

Following the introduction of the Smith’s Family Kitchen range of 34 products, mainly sandwiches, in May, the company has seen record food sales.

Managing director Andrew Harrison: “We don’t have as much of a cohesive breakfast offer as we’d like, and we know that that is a really important day part.

“Over the next couple of years, we’ll be starting to dial up some of those options. The next year for sure is about optimising what we’ve got.”

The retailer now has more than 600 stores in travel locations such as railway stations, airports and hospitals.

According to Mr Harrison, the company’s travel sector now accounts for 70% of total sales, with food and drink items featuring in at least half of all purchases.

Previously, the chain offered meal deals supplied by third-party brands.

Mr Harrison believes that introducing the company’s own menu is the next logical step.

WH Smith is also working with partners to expand its range, including new lines of sports nutrition products under the Myprotein brand.

Mr Harrison added: “We are not talking about becoming a sort of fast food outlet. It’s just trying to broaden the range of options we can offer our customers.”

He added: “Just over 10 years ago we didn’t sell food. We now do 11 million meal deals a year.

“We sell 80,000 different combinations of product in our meal deals every week. That’s the scale we’ve got to. As we look forward, we just want to continue to make sure we understand what our customers’ requirements are and fulfil those needs.”