Waitrose has revealed that it experienced a record week for sales of picnic and food-to-go items, with sales up 213% compared to the same time last year.
The retailer attributed the jump to the easing of pandemic-related restrictions and people beginning to meet up for al fresco dining.
The data will be welcome news for food-to-go suppliers that have been hard by the lockdowns over the last year.
In response to the raised demand, Waitrose is launching a new picnic box on its Deli counters in time for National Picnic Week, which runs from 19 to 27 June. The new boxes offer customers an easy picnic solution with a selection of deli counter items produced by British suppliers, such as pork pies, sausage rolls and scotch eggs.
Shoppers will be able to buy the boxes on a special promotion with its British Artisan Cheese Boxes, which includes five of the chain’s most popular British cheeses.
Michelle Slade, Deli counter buyer at Waitrose, said: “2021 is set to be the year of the picnic and we knew there was an opportunity to introduce more customers to the amazing selection of food we have on our counters.
“Our recent sales show that customers are already getting into the summer spirit and we have introduced this new box full of picnic staples to meet demand and make it really easy for our customers to pick up great quality food from our counters.”
