Eat is a family run company dedicated to quality food.

The stores offers soups,

sandwiches and coffees.(www.eat.co.uk) . As part of preparing my report, I
carried out a primary research by visiting EAT at Canary wharf on Friday, 13th
December. 2008. The reason why I chose Canary wharf is because it is a
vibrant business district which houses a number of companies, wide range of
shops, restaurants, pubs and wine bars, as well as healthcare and leisure
facilities
and
an
extensive
arts
and
events
programmes
(www.canarywharf.com). This report is based on my experience at EAT,
secondary data and interactions with customers
INTRODUCTION
United Kingdom provides a fertile market for quality sandwich providers
because of its highly concentrated population of 60 million and increasingly
brand-led, food-conscious consumers. The UK is a hybrid between the US and
Europe, combining a strong chain presence and convenience-driven behaviour,
with the food and caf culture of Europe. A growing consumer food culture has
emerged over the past 5 years, which has led to the success of Waitrose, M&S
food, and branded food chains such as Pret, EAT and Carluccios
UK out-of home Food & Beverage market is estimated at 37 billion and has an
estimated 228 million daily meal occasions. There are number of players in
F & B market like M&S, Sainsburys Local, Tesco Express, Boots, Subway,
Greggs, Pret A Manger, EAT etc .These players offer customers a wide variety of
experiences like

High quality, themed store environments

Provides customers an option of 3rd space as a social venue
importance of a my time space is not to be underestimated
Vibrant, caf-like environments
Customer education and events (www.sandwich.org.uk)

Of the 37 billion UK out-of home Food & Beverage market, the sandwich
market is worth approximately 3.5 - 3.7 billion and is growing at 5%. The

major contributors to this growth has been branded coffee/sandwich chain

market with Pret-A Manger leading the branded food-focused coffee segment in
sales and outlets, followed by EAT . A survey by Allegra shows that a quarter of
UK consumers under 35 stated that they eat many meals on-the-move, an
important current and future market for sandwich players.
(www.sandwich.org.uk)
Allegras research and analysis over the past decade identifies 7 Mega-trends
driving developments across the global food sector, with important
consequences for the UK sandwich market.
1. Healthy Eating
2. Food-on-the-Move
3. Culture of Food
4. Greater Variety and Choice
5. Expansion of Branded Chain Concepts
6. Growing Importance of Experience
7. Ethical Consumerism
(www.sandwich.org.uk)
From this positioning map of UK sandwich / Food To- Go operators, we can
find that a variety of players present in the markets are targeting a specific
niche

Price

Starbucks

ILLUSTRATIVE

Costa Caff Nero

Caff Ritazza

Waitrose
Pret Benugos
Sandwich
Subway
es
EAT
McDonald
M&S
Simply
BBs s Sainsbury
Food
Coffee
s Local
+
&
Quality Food
Benjys Bakers Tesco Muffin
Credentials
Boots
(Defunct) Oven Express s
Greggs

Source: Allegra Strategies Analysis 2007

(www.sandwich.org.uk)
Allegra, the company that carried out the analysis, expects the main value
growth for sandwich players to occur in the upper right-hand quartile.
Sandwich players in this quartile are focusing more on the quality thereby
charging a premium from the consumers. Most of the consumers do not mind
paying a bit extra for a better quality food
Fortunately, EAT, on which I am preparing this report, is in the upper right
hand quartile.

EAT An introduction
EAT was founded by Mr.Niall MacArthur and his wife Ms.Faith MacArthur in
1996. They started EAT with the ambition of providing the best food, soup and
coffee in London at reasonable prices. They opened their first shop at Villiers
Street, London on 12th October, 1996 (www.eat.co.uk). Now, 12 years later,
they have 92 shops spread along the length and breadth of UK
SEGMENTATION
Based on my experience and observation of EAT outlets, I am of the view that
the segment EAT targets are of social grade A , B and C 1 who are from the
upper middle , middle and lower middle class strata of the society respectively.
Most of them are professionals working in Higher Managerial, Int.managerial,
supervisory and clerical posts in the companies nearby (Lecture Notes week
3). This segment provides a continuous stream of consumers to EAT because of
influx of the professional from all over world to work at various companies
dotting the financial capital of the world i.e. London. This segment is basically
concerned with time rather than money.
MARKETING MIX

Now, I intend to analyze the effectiveness of 7 Ps of EATs marketing Mix i.e.

Product, Place, Price, Promotion, People, Physical evidence & Process
Product
The sandwich I had at EAT was good in physical features with no broken ends.
It was neatly packed and looked hygienic .From the physical appearance, the
sandwich looked fresh and good quality. It smelled well too. On eating the
sandwich, it tasted good and ingredients too was fresh with no hint of a taste or
smell that occurs when a food is stale. But I wanted to add few additional
ingredients to my sandwich. The staff told me that, they did not have any
ingredients with them!!
Place
EAT at Canary wharf is one of the many eateries in the shopping complex.
Canary wharf is a very good location for any eatery because of the numerous
companies that dot its sky line.
EAT has 92 outlets at different location in London, Oxford, Manchester,
Birmingham etc. When I went around few of EAT outlets in London, I found out
that, they were in locations where there were maximum concentration of
companies, whose employees are EAT target consumers. This strategy of setting
up outlets, at what I feel are the right sites, brings EAT closer to its customers.
Even though hiring an outlet is a bit costly at these locations, I feel that the
cost can be offset by charging a premium from the consumers who, I feel, will
be more than happy to pay because they are getting a healthy, good quality food
at their doorstep
Promotion
In my view, the word EAT convey a lot of meaning. The founders have left the
logo simple by focusing on the name, which I feel is its strength. In any
promotion, it stands out. Even though I have not been exposed to a lot of
advertising or promotional campaigns by EAT , from whatever little I have seen ,
I feel that it sends out a message that it is a nice quite little place to have the
real food .
EAT needs to promote itself aggressively because of high competition in this
segment. Consumers need to be constantly reminded of EATs products and
offers.
Price

The price card at EAT was competitive compared to Pret A Manger. I felt that
most of the food served at EAT were a good value for money .One of the
customers whom I interacted with told me that he is a regular at EAT. When I
enquired him about the reason, he told me that a particular sandwich at EAT
called Eat club sandwich was one of the finest lunches to have in London for
under 5. But another customer told me that few of the sandwiches are a bit
overpriced. But on the whole, I think EAT gives a good value for money
People
EAT succeeds where many sandwich bars fail good food served with a smile.
The employees go out of their way to make customers comfortable. But there
was one experience which irritated me. I had ordered for a juice along with the
sandwich. The EAT employee told me that he would bring me the juice to my
seat. Even long after I finished my sandwich, there was no trace of juice. When
I went back to the employee and asked him about the juice, he told me that he
had forgotten it. But he apologized and gave me juice immediately.
Some of the employees uniforms were not neat. There was lot of stains which
made them look as a staff of an ordinary eatery
The customers are office goers. They constitute a major percentage of EAT
clientele.
Physical Evidence
The store at Canary wharf looked simple but elegant. Basically two colours,
Brown (light & Dark) & White. were the dominated ones. This combination gave
the store a pleasant look tempting people to drop in to the store and relax with
a cup of coffee. There was nothing over the top in the interiors and designs.
The lighting was just sufficient. The tables and chair were in place and
provided masses of room to enjoy a delicious sandwich with a hot soup. The
display was good, which helped customers choose sandwiches of his or her
choice without any difficultly
Process
The level of my involvement at EAT was minimal. I just went to the cashier and
asked for the sandwich which I was interested it. Even though, juice was served
to me late, I guess it was an exception and usually these sort of things do not
occur quite often.

There are certain processes which are taught to staff when they interact with
customers. I worked for some time at Burger king where I was told of the
following steps when interacting with a customer
1. Greetings
- Smile, greet, take order
2. Process order
- Suggestive sell 1 item
- Repeat and total order
- Cash transaction
3. Complete Transaction :
- Assemble order and offer condiments
- Repeat and deliver order
- Parting phase
(Ref: - Burger king An industry guide 2007)
SERVICE DELIVERY
To differentiate from its competitors, EAT decided to use a central kitchen,
rather than preparing food in individual stores .This was planned when EAT
was a small company and was just trying to get a foothold in the market. But
now, EAT has 92 stores spread across UK and surprisingly, EAT has not
changed this strategy. But on analysis of this strategy I did find a number of
advantages in having this setup even though it does have some disadvantages
Advantages
The best place to root a brand distinction is in the product itself. If food is
prepared at individual stores, it becomes difficult to maintain the same high
standards and quality at all locations. Any bad publicity of the product in any
individual store affects the brand as a whole
Preparing food at a central kitchen, gives food the same taste across UK. So a
EAT loyalist travelling to Manchester from London would be tempted to have
food at EAT outlet in Manchester because of the well publicised fact that EAT
uses a central kitchen to prepare its food thereby giving its food the same tastes
in all its stores
Also having a central kitchen allows additions and changes to the ranges very
quickly and uniformly. This can help EAT in being ahead of competition and
introducing new products frequently

Food, that is delivered to EAT stores across UK, has a shelf life of one day.
Considering the fact that UK is a small country and delivery from London to
the rest of the country can be easily reached within 10 hours, I feel it is a good
move to operate with central kitchen
Having a central kitchen also avoids investing in food processing equipments at
individual stores. This will also enable EAT to close down stores, which are not
performing well, easily and without incurring much loss
Disadvantages
The cost involved in delivering food from the central kitchen to stores ,makes
food at EAT a bit costlier than competitors The cost per sandwich will be on the
higher side ,due to the fact that in addition to the actual cost of preparing
food , logistics cost also needs to be included . But this can be overlooked
considering the fact that there is absolute control on the quality of food being
served which helps to bring about the brand distinction .I am of the view that,
even the logistic cost involved will not be significantly different from the
competitors, considering the fact that other food chains also needs to deliver
ingredients to their individual stores so as to prepare food. EAT, instead of
delivering ingredients, delivers the finished product.
Some of the customers would prefer food with or without certain ingredients. If
the food is prepared in store, it is possible to satisfy customer requirements.
Under extreme weather conditions, delivery of food from central kitchen to
individual store will be affected, thereby hampering sales.
The food served at EAT stores tend to be less fresh compared to the food served
at individual store where food is prepared in store and served mint fresh to
customers .
If there is any problem in central kitchen, due to faulty device, fire etc, the
entire supply chain gets affected .Considerable revenue will be lost because it
will take some time for the kitchen to start functioning normally.
If a competitor intends to sabotage EATs operations, it will be easy to do that
because of the fact that entire supply take place from a central kitchen
GAP MODEL

In this section, I intend to focus on GAP 5, which analysis the difference

between customer expectations and perceptions. This analysis is based on my
experience at Canary wharf
My expectation at EAT was built on my personal need to have a good food , past
experience of having tasted food at some of the good eateries in London and the
fact that I had heard good reviews about EAT from my friends and tutor
Expectation

Reality

Suggestion

I expected the food at EAT

to be tasty, considering
the fact that they are a
well known food chain.

The food matched my

expectations. But the
food was a bit stale,
compared to the food I
had tasted at Prt-AManger.

EAT should ensure that they

serve fresh food to the
customers .They need to
improve
their
storing
methods and try to bring the
element of freshness into
food

I expected the place to

provide me comfortable
seating so as to drive
away all my worries and
woes and above all, my
tiredness.

The chairs at EAT did

not
provide
me
comfortable seating. I
felt like the chairs were
designed so as to
ensure that customers
do not stay long at the
place.

Seating needs to improve.

The tables and chairs are no
different from the ones in
universities. Seating similar
to coffee bars may be a good
option

I expected the price to be

on higher side because I
know that good things do
not come cheap.

The price matched my

expectations. I was
quite thrilled that EAT
did not empty my
pockets.

Lesser prices may bring in

few more customers but
price reduction should not
be done at the expense of
quality

Since EAT had a good

brand image , I expected
the store to be decorated
with
costly Decorative
items like paintings, wall
hangings,
decorative
mirrors, candles, photo
frames,
show
pieces,

I
was
pleasantly
surprised that store
looked
simple
but
elegant. It was not
decorated
like
an
Indian Bride but still
looked
good.
The
lighting was just fine

Interiors were good. EAT

needs to remodel interiors
after a certain period of time
because customer do not like
coming to a place which
looks same again and again

sculptures etc.

and provided a relaxed

look to the place.

I expected to be looked
after very well by the store
staff considering the fact
that I was paying a
premium compared to
other eateries

The service matched

my expectation , even
though I was not
prepared for the goofup , when the staff
forgot to bring my juice
after promising me that
I would be served juice
at the table

I noticed that the staff

uniforms were not neat. This
may be because of the fact
that the uniform is white in
colour and it is easy to spot
dirt
in
white.
EAT
management can think of
changing the uniform to a
dark colour so that small
amount of dirt is not so
blazingly visible.

CONCLUSION
EAT is on the right track to be one of the biggest players in UK out-of home
Food & Beverage market . EAT needs to focus on overseas expansion, so as not
to by affected by the downturns in UK market. If EAT expand overseas, then it
needs to relook at its strategy of delivering food from the central kitchen
because of the cost involved in shipping the products. But I hope that EAT
continue to maintain its quality as it grows bigger than ever. As Mr.Niall
MacArthur signs off in EATs webpage EAT is ......... a small company
dedicated to Quality food.

References
Lecture Notes Week 3
Burger king An industry guide 2007
http://www.canarywharf.com/mainfrm1.asp
www.sandwich.org.uk/docs/taste_experience_07/jeoffrey_young_presentation.
ppt - sandwich details accessed on 29th December
http://www.eat.co.uk/pages/facts.html