Waitrose is offering shoppers a lunchtime meal deal for the first time, which will include a main, side and drink for £5, The Grocer reports.
The premium grocer‘s food-to-go offer will feature a selection of sandwiches, sushi, salads, and wraps, as well as fruit, cereal bars, juices and smoothies. It will launch in stores from 30 August.
The move brings Waitrose in line with the supermarket rivals Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons, which all currently provide lunch deals.
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Waitrose food-to-go buyer Jennifer Moscardini told the title: “We’re really excited to be launching this meal deal within our food-to-go range.”
“We know lots of our customers are heading into our shops to grab something for their lunch, so to be able to offer them a convenient, high-quality and great value meal deal is really important for us.”
The news comes as Waitrose began offering free coffees for police officers who visit its stores in a bid to crack down on shoplifting and violence against staff.
In a letter to the Police Federation union, John Lewis Partnership said officers can use the subsidised staff canteen “as part of efforts to strengthen relationships and tackle retail crime”.
The retail giant dubbed the initiative “thanks a latte”.
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5 Comments. Leave new
The management are really running Waitrose into the ground. Lowering prices, meal deals… a tacky way to try and win customers. It is a tactic that ASDA Tesco Morrisons and Sainsburys have had no success at against Aldi and Lidl. They should be adding more quantity to their own labels. With classier promotions such as “Quality & Quantity” or “Weightrose” you know something like that.
Aldi and Lidl are not only cheaper they often have larger quantity and the quality is good, not one of the UK supermarkets have grasped that fact, and major brands are usually the worst for shrinkflation.
Waitrose now doing Meal Deals is joining a race to the bottom.
Come on Charles, let the peasants have a posh sandwich and live in hope?
Absolutely disagree with the previous comment about Waitrose doing a meal Deal being a “Race To The Bottom”. At £5 it is a premium option, they are not trying to compete in the same market place as the Sainsbury/Tesco/Boots standard meal deals, but it does sit with the Sainsbury’s Premium Meal Deal offer.
Particularly when Waitrose have a lot of High Street stores, it has always seemed strange that they never did a meal deal option. A sandwich, drink and snack at Waitrose was £7-£10 and so made it so that I wouldn’t consider them when picking up a lunch on my way to work (Even though I had to walk past). The idea of getting people to pop in more often is a great one. Increasing footfall and there are bound to be “add-on” purchases when people pop in. The meal deal is a part of UK culture and I am glad that Waitrose are joining in. The way that we shop, work, eat and live has changed and trying to live in the past is not a good idea for any retailer.
Spot on. £5 represents good value for premium quality food. It’s good publicity and may encourage extra sales. With the ability to get a free coffee if a My Waitrose member, it makes sense. If you add up the individual cost of a lunch like this it’s usually ridiculous. For those of us who haven’t got time to faff around with making our own it adds a nice convenience to the daily grind.
£5 is neither a meal or deal and the quality WILL go down significantly and reduced choice.