Back to School: Class act

Independent convenience retailers can support them by making their stores a destination for back-to-school essentials, stocking a range of lunchbox staples, snacks and breakfast items to fuel children before, during and after a full day of learning.

Allison Deluca, convenience category manager at Saputo Dairy UK, says: “To succeed at back-to-school in 2021, convenience stores need to emulate the quality of food and variety of choice offered by the multiples, who will be working hard to attract shoppers back into store and to lock in more of their spend after a year that has favoured neighbourhood stores.

Sandwich staples

“A fresh range that offers only a limited, lacklustre selection of lunchbox-suitable products is no longer enough. Ensuring the range carries a strong line-up of family meal-time favourites is a must. Shoppers’ increasingly diverse needs equally need to be considered and catered for. A tight range of top-performing products that focuses on satisfying a breadth of needs should be prioritised over duplication within the range.”

Parents will be looking for lunchbox foods that are convenient, versatile and will keep their children satisfied throughout the day, such as ingredients for tasty sandwiches, says Jeremy Gilboy, founder of St Pierre Groupe, which owns the Baker Street bread brand. Gilboy says sales of sliced bread are growing at 5% due to a shift in consumer needs during the pandemic. Baker Street Sliced White Loaf and Sliced Brown Loaf sales are also increasing, with the brand as a whole growing at 30% year on year.

“Bread remains a key staple for the vast majority of households and at the start this year we saw particular growth in the trend towards staple white bread, which has increased by 9% and is still driving sales. This is due to the fact it is a versatile and convenient staple for the whole family that can be enjoyed at any time.”

When choosing an appropriate filling, however, retailers will need to keep health front-of-mind. “Healthy guidelines are mandatory at many schools,” says Charlotte Hulbert, retail sales manager at Brioche Pasquier, “so the ideal is to tempt parents with wholesome products that are also practical and cost-effective. Think about what children will want as well as what parents would like them to have.”

Butters and spreads are a natural choice as a sandwich base, says Emilie Grundy, senior brand manager at Saputo Dairy, while cheese remains one of the nation’s favourite sandwich fillings. Cheese is as appealing to parents as it is “rich in calcium and a good source of protein”, says Neil Stewart, Cathedral City marketing controller, which taps into concerns around health. Retailers can expect to see continued strong demand for cheese during the back-to-school season, she says, as it is a popular staple of the fresh top-up shop. Cheese is bought by 99% of UK households on average every two weeks, with 37% buying from c-stores.

Easy solutions
Convenient cheese formats that cater to parents’ demand for easy solutions to help them manage their time-pressed lives continue to show strong growth, says Stewart. “Indeed 16% of UK consumers state convenience as one of the main factors when they are purchasing cheese, indicating that this is front of mind when in the aisles.”

Block cheese remains the most popular format for sandwiches, contributing 42% of total cheese volume sales in the convenience sector over the past year. The Cathedral City block range has “significantly outperformed” the sector in the latest 12 months, growing by 15%. Its 350g Mature, 200g Mature, 350g Extra Mature and 200g Extra Mature are the top four lines in the convenience sector and are available in price-marked packs.

The sliced and grated cheese sectors have also continued to perform well in convenience in the latest year, growing by 2% and 12% respectively. Cathedral City Sliced & Grated continue to perform strongly in convenience retail and have seen 36% and 20% volume growth respectively in the year to 17 April 2021, outpacing the performance of the sector as a whole.

Cheese is also a popular snacking option and tap into the consumer demand for healthy snacks. Stewart says this demand is supported by policing what is included in children’s lunchboxes. “More than six in 10 shoppers want to see healthy snacking options at their local convenience store. Retailers should ensure that tried and tested ‘healthier’ snacking choices, such as pre-packed cheese snacks feature within their fresh line-up.”

Protein source
Emily Galazka, senior brand manager for Babybel, says: “With 73% of consumers seeing cheese as an easy way to get protein and 29% of convenience store shoppers now eating more healthily, stocking portion-controlled and protein rich cheese snack favourites is a must for retailers looking to boost their lunchbox snacking sales.

Furthermore, with 55% deeming cheese to be a healthy snacking choice for children, lunchbox cheese chosen for health as the first driver of consumption, and health and enjoyment being the key drivers for parents when choosing cheese snacks for their kids’ lunchboxes, retailers must ensure they are also stocking children’s lunchbox favourites.”

Babybel recently bolstered its line-up with the launch of Babybel Plus, its first-ever functional cheese snack line. Catering directly to the “increased appetite for more functional foods”, Babybel Plus launched with two variants, Babybel+Vitamins and Babybel+Live Cultures. Galazka says the launch offers a further opportunity for convenience retailers to boost their cheese snacking sales.

Yogurts are also a popular choice for children’s lunchboxes and Joanna Goodman, head of marketing for yogurt at General Mills, expects this year’s back-to-school season to be the biggest yet for yogurts. “At Yoplait, the first few months of lockdown saw an increase in sales as shoppers were stocking up on kids’ yoghurt pots for at-home consumption.

“In May, June and July, the category experienced some softness versus last year, driven mainly by the portable and on-the-go segment of the category, as the vast majority of children were not at school and so there was less of a need for inclusion in lunchboxes.

“August saw the market back in growth, with kids going back to school and the need for healthy snacking both at home and in lunchboxes.” Recognising the “increasing importance of convenience for modern parents”, Yoplait’s Petit Filous brand launched a Mess-Free format, which Goodman says provides children with the same benefits as Petit Filous yogurt, but with an anti-spill cap.

Healthy starts
The back-to-school season is not only about lunchtime; parents will also be looking for breakfast items to start off their children’s day. Darryl Burgess, head of sales for Weetabix, says: “Having a well-stocked breakfast category with all the core and top-selling cereal brands has never been more important in a changing breakfast occasion as people look to purchase more day-to-day items from their local stores. Getting prepared to return to school is a hectic time for parents and kids alike, and never more so than this year. It is the ideal time to establish new routines, such as sitting down for breakfast.”

Nutritious choice
Burgess says Weetabix is the number one breakfast cereal brand in the UK and is a must-stock for convenience retailers, offering a nutritious choice to start the day. “Health will come back to the forefront in the months ahead and we know consumers are concerned about the healthiness of their cereals. Weetabix Original is and will always be a low-sugar cereal and we have all green traffic lights on-pack to make it easy for shoppers to make a healthy choice.”

Weetabix recently launched Weetabix Melts, soft-centred crunchy bites in milk and white chocolate flavours, designed to meet the growing demand for “indulgent yet nutritious cereals”. Burgess adds: “Melts maintain strong nutritionals with no red traffic lights and are classified as non-HFSS [high fat, sugar and salt], allowing Weetabix and retailers to really get behind the launch. Melts are high in fibre, low in salt and fortified with vitamins and iron, meaning they are a great way to start the day or enjoy as a snack.”

By Éilis Cronin