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BP Forecourt Concepts: Food and Drinks Go Healthy

Posted on: Monday, 9 July 2007, 06:21 CDT

UK oil major BP has re-launched its Wild Bean Cafe food and drink range. BP's move is in response to the evolving trends of consumers, who increasingly do not want to sacrifice health for convenience and indulgence. BP is attempting to adapt to these trends and, given the extent to which consumer tastes are changing, it is likely that more oil companies will follow suit.

BP has revamped the Wild Bean Cafe food and drink range that it sells at its service stations. The focus for the new range is health; with products such as a premium salad range that includes blue cheese, and pear and tuna nicoise varieties; iced fruit smoothies, and a new sandwich range with fillings such as smoked mackerel salad and cheese ploughman's. The sandwiches will also include nutritional signposting, showing consumers how many calories they contain. This marks a change from the past, when food served at service stations was considered to be largely stodgy and of bad quality.

Service stations are well-placed to benefit from the convenience trend; with around 3% of European meals currently being eaten on-the-move, service station shop sales are growing as people purchase food items on their way to work when they stop to fill up. Indeed, service stations already have a significant market share with regard to soft drinks, confectionary and savory snacks.

However, while consumers are still looking for convenience foods, trends are evolving to the extent that customers want their purchases to be both tasty and healthy. As such, in order to maximize sales, service stations need to revise their offerings to respond to these evolving consumer trends. Those that manage to offer products that bridge the gap between convenience, health, and indulgence are set to benefit from this opening in the market.

In conclusion, BP's strategy of revamping its offerings will enable it to continue benefiting from its convenience products, while also reflecting new consumer trends. Indeed, going forward, given the importance non-fuel sales to many service stations, other companies are likely to follow suit and also re-launch their food and beverage offerings. In other words, in the longer term, the emphasis of service stations' food and drinks offerings will be more about sushi and smoothies, rather than the more mundane traditional offerings.

Source: Datamonitor

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