BLT is Britain’s favourite sandwich

Large-scale sandwich manufacturers – backed by investment in new product development (NPD) investment – made up about a third of the newly announced Sandwich Designer of the Year shortlist.

Market analyst Mintel linked cautious consumer behaviour amid economic uncertainty to one in three workers cutting back on lunchtime spend last year, leading to a rise in homemade lunchboxes. 

But Jonathan Hehir, head of innovation for Adelie Food, which encompasses Buckingham Foods and Food Partners, said the list did not reflect the NPD from sandwich manufacturers trying to tempt customers with new varieties.

“We are seeing some of the flavours from street food markets, such as Moroccan, permeating into the biggest retailers,”​ he told FoodManufacture.co.uk. “Some of these retailer ranges started life when my teams have been out to street markets and taken these concepts to them – albeit watered-down versions with the key flavours.”​

Key flavours​

Hehir noted an Adelie entry into the Sandwich Designer of the Year competition – a French-Vietnamese Bahn Mi creation using a gluten-free baguette – was aimed at consumers shying away from sandwiches.

“You might be having toast for breakfast, pasta for lunch and you might want to give your stomach a break from wheat – you don’t have to be coeliac,”​ he said. “We’re seeing more ‘wheat reducers’ or people who want to cut down a little bit. I don’t see any reason why that wouldn’t go to market in a big retailer; we do a gluten-free tuna crunch roll for Starbucks and gluten-free is a key trend.”​

Alternative carriers like flatbreads, as well as Middle Eastern flavours, are the biggest development areas, added Joanne Smith, head of NPD at sandwich manufacturer Greencore. This chimes with Mintel’s assertion that the use of flatbreads may be one way to tempt customers amid low consumer confidence.

Its consumer research showed that 27% of workers said they would be interested in trying different carriers such as pitas, wraps and flatbreads but have not yet done so.

Very weather dependent ​

“There is enough NPD for retailers to build the category, because the category is still in growth, though not double-digit and it’s very weather dependent so you have to reinvigorate to inject an amount of interest to keep it alive,” ​she said. “It’s an industry where there’s not an awful lot of talent coming through at a grassroots level so we need to bring that through.”​

While one of Greencore’s shortlisted competition entries – shredded pork with fresh cabbage slaw and apple and fig chutney sandwich –  is unlikely to topple the prawn mayo from its number two slot on the British Sandwich Association’s favourite fillings survey, NPD manager said its customers are crying out for alternatives to the staid.

“We’re constantly being challenged as to what the trends are in the market, and one of the things we get asked about is the lack of sandwiches on the market with no mayonnaise in,”​ she said. “So we try to bear things like that in mind when we’re developing.”​

Mintel valued UK sandwich sales at £2.83bn last year and predicted steadily grow to reach £2.94bn by 2017. But that’s far from the 10–15% annual volume growth seen in the 1990s.

British Sandwich week started in May 12.

British Sandwich Association Top 10 Sandwich Fillings​

1. BLT (Bacon, lettuce and tomato)
2. Prawn mayonnaise
3. Chicken and bacon
4. Cheese and pickle
5. Chicken Salad
6. Cheese and onion
7. Bacon
8. Tuna and sweetcorn
9. Egg mayonnaise
10. Chicken and stuffing