11th Apr 2014 11:58
LONDON (Alliance News) - Britain's biggest supermarket chain Tesco PLC is working on a new high-street food chain store format, focused on the London market, according to The Guardian Friday, which would compete with popular take-away food chains like Pret à Manger, Eat and Greggs PLC.
Analysts said the new store format called "Tesco Express - food to go" would be focused on the London lunchtime snack market, with the grocer targeting as many at 80 outlets, each no more than 3,000 square feet, The Guardian said.
Tesco is also experimenting with the food and drink brands that it either owns or has invested in. Harris+Hoole is opening coffee shops in Tesco's larger stores, while Giraffe, the restaurant chain it bought in 2013, has started to open kiosks in high-footfall areas such as railway stations. A New York-style diner called Fred's Food Construction recently opened at the Tesco Extra in Osterley, west London.
Tesco, which will report its full-year results next Wednesday, declined to comment on the report.
Last week, the supermarket chain said that Chief Financial Officer Laurie McIlwee was stepping down to "pursue new opportunities," and that it had already begin the process to fill his boots, looking at both internal and external applicants.
In March, Tesco confirmed again that it will be investing around GBP85 million in its 50:50 joint partnership with Trent Hypermarket Ltd, the retail arm of Indian conglomerate Tata Group, as the grocer giant expands operations into India.
Tesco shares were down 0.6% Friday afternoon at 282.24 pence per share.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/apr/10/tesco-lucrative-takeaway-trade-london
By Rowena Harris-Doughty; [email protected]; @rharrisdoughty
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