Tesco readying takeaway food outlets in London

Tesco is understood to be working on a high-street takeaway-food chain, The Guardian newspaper has r…

Tesco is understood to be working on a high-street takeaway-food chain, The Guardian newspaper has reported.

According to analysts cited by the newspaper, the UK’s largest retailer is putting the finishing touches to a new format called ‘Tesco Express food to go’ which would compete with market leaders Pret à Manger, Eat and Greggs.

Steve Dresser of Grocery Insight said the supermarket was targeting as many as 80 outlets in London as it looked to tap into the lucrative lunchtime take-away market.

Tesco have yet to comment on any of the media reports.

Expanding into both eat-in and takeaway food forms part of Tesco chief executive Philip Clarke’s turnaround plans. It has revamped its supermarkets to offer takeaway food areas and begun opening in-store restaurants through investments in restaurant chain Giraffe and New York-style diner Fred’s Food Construction, which recently opened at its Tesco Extra store in west London.

Rival Sainsbury's pulled the plug on a similar concept called ‘Fresh Kitchen’ in 2012 after it struggled to find the right formula for a high footfall store in central London.