Design a sarnie

The sandwich is the complete convenience food but manufacturers need to get smarter about the way they are made and the fillings they use to meet consumers’ higher expectations

Making sandwiches has become an art form – from the bread that is used as the framework to the artistic filling that goes inside it. In fact sandwiches are becoming posher and premium, according to Mintel.

The analyst says that sales within the sandwich sector have radically improved because of the healthier eating trend and the variety of superfood and wheat free varieties now available, plus a choice of fillings that stretch from the exotic to the traditional. Ethically sourced food and packaging were also appealing to consumers.

From 2002 to 2006 average year on year growth in sales was 3.5% but last year alone growth had shot up to 9%. Mintel predicts the sector will continue to grow, with sales set to break through the £5bn mark by 2012.

At the recent Taste Experience event organised by the British Sandwich Association (BSA), Allegra Strategies' managing director Jeffrey Young said that in its research healthy eating was number one priority among consumers. But there was also an awareness of the rise in convenience, food on the move and the demand for choices.

Nearly two thirds of the population ate out of home at least once a week and the forecast was that this would increase, particularly among the young.

"If you are preparing for the future, the younger population should be considered as 26% of them say they eat on the move all the time," says Young.

The growing popularity for deli concepts, a rise in farmers' markets and premium retail own label was influencing the quality of food on the go. "The most exciting thing is the choice that never used to be there – exotic. It produces an opportunity for a segmented product range," he says.

The ethical positioning is an important business factor. "Every company is now addressing its ethical credentials – food miles, organic, fairtrade, sustainability, traceability, local sourcing – people want to feel the company is looking after them," he says.

But the challenge for the food sector, he says, is rising food and ingredient costs. NPD was going to be key for the future, as was sustainability and the environment. He believed there was a gap in the market for a hand crafted product but admitted that, in spite of the trends towards premium and some consumers wanting local products, others will just want a chicken sandwich and at the end of the day it will come down to cost – food at an affordable price.

Dr Terry Sharp, head of the baking and cereals processing department at Campden & Chorleywood, explained that bread was universally used in many ways, but accounted for just 5% of the rsp of a product "so why don't sandwich makers focus on the bread rather than the fillings?" he asks.

But getting the right slice isn't easy. "You need a regular shape and ideally no crust. It should be firm enough for a filling but not soft. You have to have flavour and texture as well – it's not just a carrier for a filling – and the worse thing to do is keep it in the fridge."

Adam Gilbert, owner of the Soho Sandwich Company and a number of London cafés, won the 2007 BSA sandwich designer of the year award. He supplies specialist outlets such as Fortnum & Mason and special events such as Ascot. He is also in foyers of office buildings.

He learnt his craft from top venues such as Claridge's under the eye of executive head chef John Williams, who now heads up the kitchens at The Ritz in London. Gilbert's mantra was "fresher is pressure and don't over complicate flavours and textures". He built up his present business by making inexpensive, good quality sandwiches.

"The difference between Soho and Claridge's is I can't get the same price but I can ensure the quality stays the same. How to make money depends on the buying – stick to the markets in London and go with the season. Pay the lowest price possible to maintain those all important margins."

He predicts that Mexican flavours will gain favour: "Everyone will be playing with Mexican flavours. It's spicy but it's got depth. We take trends from America and I pound the streets of New York for ideas."

His winning sandwich design was a mix of chorizo sausage, spicy tomato salsa, roasted sweet potato, alfalfa sprouts and baby spinach. But he admits: "The flavour combinations you can't get away from are classic egg mayonnaise and chicken salad, and we're selling more of the toasted sandwich options."

Independent research

Kara Foodservice, part of the Fletchers bakery business, commissioned an independent survey into the out of home sandwich market. The reason for the research was the lack of data for the foodservice sector, it says.

Managing director Paul Doughty said it was difficult to establish what scale and size of the marketplace it operated in, and the research provided interesting findings about the areas of growth and those in decline. "The growth is in the products we are launching this month – crusty and rustic," he says.

"Our new range conceived after the research we undertook in late 2007 across all sub-sectors of the foodservice market, including both profit and cost sector outlets, when we identified an opportunity to extend our range into rustic and artisan rolls. In particular we established that crusty, artisan type rolls are most heavily used in high end restaurants and hotels (around a third of restaurants on our survey) but there's clearly an opportunity for all restaurants to add differentiation by using crusty rustic as well as soft rolls."

Kara's new premium range of sandwich carriers and rolls includes a variety of rustic continental bread specially selected for the kind of eye and taste appeal that commands a higher price from the end customer.

Doughty said: "We are providing customers with products on which they can enhance their margin – either because the consumer values them more or because they form the basis of a more attractive sandwich offer."

Seven premium continental bread products feature a variety of differently shaped products, including diamond, as well as artisan touches such as organic flour, seeded tops and use of sun dried tomatoes and olives. They include mini petit pain rolls and Kaiser rolls in white, poppy, sesame and wholemeal variants; a ciabatta sandwich, organic half baguette delicette, Mediterranean flat bap foccacia, sesame nigello panini, and rustic losange 'fusion' roll.

"The research we commissioned shows consumers are constantly looking for something different – at the premium end they are prepared to pay more for products which don't look mass produced, complement a quality filling and stand out on the counter display," said Doughty. "In every case, our new range is aimed at helping our customers achieve a higher selling price."

"We also found that the opportunities in Danish and croissants outside the London business is huge. A lot of product in the market here is frozen dough from the continent which has to be baked off. Ours are fully baked and just need thawing.

"Baguettes are significant and the bigger eat is what we are trying to achieve. Although there is a health challenge, bread and bread based products are considered healthy."

Explaining why only the mini rolls include a wholemeal variant, he says: "There's a lot of talk about moving to wholemeal but the purchasing patterns show that people prefer white bread. Do you go where people think there is a trend, or do you go with what people are buying?

"Seed toppings also give goodness from their inclusion and the mini rolls have different toppings. Additives such as sun dried tomatoes and olives suggest healthier, better for you, in the range." The assorted rolls are for soups or before a meal because the soft products don't suit this kind of offering, said Doughty, with splits and crosses to make them more interesting.

Different shapes have been introduced and the company is coming up with different fillings for these shapes. "If you look at the leading players in the market – Starbucks, Costa – this is the way they are going," said Doughty.

Sandwich design is the next stage of development. "We created this division last year and put a lot of emphasis behind it. The next evolution is how can we help caterers sell sandwiches. The difference in taste between a cold eating sandwich and a hot eating sandwich is huge. Once you have a hot sandwich you will never go back. The difference in the flavours is enormous. Starbucks and Costa offer a lot of grilled sandwiches and the flavour delivery is far better than the cold. We need to think how our carriers can be used more satisfactorily to deliver flavour."

Key findings

Kara Foodservice commissioned an independent survey of more than 500 individual caterers plus face to face interviews with larger chains across all sectors of the industry including universities, NHS Trusts, restaurants, hotels, leisure groups and café chains.

• The survey found only around one in five hotels serve croissants and Danish pastries. The larger chains and three to five star hotels were most likely to have continental pastries on the breakfast menu but the one to two stars have been sticking to the traditional British offering. The latter have an opportunity to differentiate themselves and add value by putting continental pastries on the menu choice. If the consumer is satisfied with a croissant or Danish there is a big cost benefit as there's a huge saving on cooking, serving, cleaning and overall time involved when compared to preparing and serving a traditional English breakfast.

• Increase in popularity of the one-handed eat – particularly in-car eating. The annual growth of in-car eating had risen from 4.2% to 4.7% over 2007 which meant opportunities in convenient, no mess products.

• Only 15% of hotels offer crusty rolls – but these tend to be the high end outlets. There will always be a place for soft rolls but the issue is that while a soft roll may be a few pence cheaper the caterer can charge more for a well made sandwich that uses artisan looking bread. It has visual appeal and consumers will appreciate the added flavour from the bread carrier.

• People are voting with their feet. In the retail sector consumers are buying this kind of bread to eat at home so it's a natural and logical step to offer the same kind of product in the out of home and catering sectors.

• Predominantly caterers still buy round buns and the bulk of all production is round baps and buns – driven mainly by fast food outlets. Currently only 5% of the market is for long, or long and thin buns. This is an area of opportunity as consumers are always on the look out for interesting items in the sandwich display – and they'll pay more for what they perceive to be added value.

• The total foodservice market achieved 2.5% growth in 2006-7 but the research showed this was almost entirely due to increases in the amount customers paid for products. This was either cost inflation or customers were choosing higher value items – Kara believes it is added value that is driving growth.

• There's been no real increase in footfall. Instead it has been about making more profit from the people already with you. McDonalds has done this well over the years – getting people to trade up from burger to burger and fries and then to a meal and then to a meal and dessert.

• On premises 'buy and eat' has risen from 57.4% to 58.8 % while traffic at Chinese, Indian and fish and chip takeaways declined 1%, which may sound a small percentage but equates to 12 million less servings 2006-07.

• Teens and 50+ are the groups driving the foodservice traffic. These groups saw a 3% increase in foodservice purchase in 2006-07 – from 52.9% to 55.6% in a market worth £23.15bn. Just as significant is the fact that women now account for well over half of foodservice sales (almost 56%)

Text: Sheila Eggleston  Photography: Cherry Valley, Kara Foodsolutions, Southover Foods