Skip to content
Search
AI Powered
Latest Stories

Key new client win for MealTrak

Key new client win for MealTrak
A.F. Blakemore's Bedford depot

Consumer tracking programme MealTrak has signed up A.F. Blakemore & Son as a new client.

A.F. Blakemore is the largest SPAR wholesaler in the UK and owns 263 SPAR stores across England and Wales, as well as supporting its independent SPAR estate through Blakemore Trade Partners.


MealTrak is a continuous tracking programme for food-to-go and out-of-home consumption, surveying 36,500 consumers a year about their food-to-go/out-of-home eating occasions from the previous day.

“We are delighted to welcome A.F. Blakemore as a new client and we look forward to demonstrating the value of the MealTrak dataset with Blakemore and their suppliers,” Nick Blake, founding partner of MealTrak, said.

David Cooke, group commercial director at A.F. Blakemore & Son, added: “Our partnership with MealTrak will help us accelerate our journey to blur the lines of convenience store and food-to-go retailing. Our most recent SPAR store launch at Brindley Place, Birmingham is testament to this, with the introduction of Philpott’s food-to-go concept. We are now better servicing our customers with delicious food for now and food for later solutions, and seeing a significant uplift in our like-for-like sales since go-live.”

Tom Fender, development director at TWC – MealTrak’s data partner said: “MealTrak is one of the most established sources of market intelligence and insight on food-to-go, an area of huge strategic importance to A.F. Blakemore. As experts in the wholesale route-to-market as well as data partner to MealTrak, the opportunity to work with the Blakemore team is a perfect fit for us.”

More for you

Trade union calls for 'respect, decent break' for retail staff

iStock image

Trade union calls for 'respect, decent break' for retail staff

Retail trade union Usdaw today (23) called on the shopping public to show respect for shop workers, stating that the busy pre-Christmas shopping period leaves retail workers exhausted and in need of a proper break.

Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary says, “By the time retail workers get to Christmas Eve, they will have been through a very busy run-up to Christmas. Our members tell us that incidents of verbal abuse are much worse in December and through to the New Year, when shops are busy, customers are stressed and things can boil over.

Keep ReadingShow less
iStock 1458055720
iStock image
iStock image

'Retailers must focus on prices as convenience channel poised to expand'

Grocers must focus on their price positioning to remain competitive as food and grocery spending in UK convenience stores is projected to outpace the hypermarkets, supermarkets, and discounters channel.

According to GlobalData, food and grocery spending in convenience stores is projected to reach £43.2 billion by 2028, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.0 per cent between 2024 and 2028.

Keep ReadingShow less
iStock 1137402716
iStock image
iStock image

‘Grocery tax’ to add £56 to food bills

The upcoming “grocery tax” could hit hard-pressed Britons in the pocket, adding up to £56 annually to household shopping bills and costing families as much as £1.4 billion a year, state reports on Sunday (22) citing a recent analysis.

The scheme, known as Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), imposes a levy on retailers and manufacturers for the cost of collecting and disposing of packaging waste, currently funded via council tax.

Keep ReadingShow less
SPAR teams up with Preston primary school to spread festive cheer

SPAR teams up with Preston primary school to spread festive cheer

Ashton Primary School in Preston has teamed up with SPAR during the season of goodwill to donate delicious food to the city’s Foxton Centre.

The school’s Year 3 class enjoyed a cookery session baking pear and chocolate crumbles to take down to the Foxton Homeless Day Centre as a pre-Christmas treat for people who access its services.

Keep ReadingShow less
Cadbury removed from royal warrant list after 170 years

(Photo credit should read Leon Neal/AFP via Getty Images)

Cadbury removed from royal warrant list after 170 years

Cadbury’s has not been granted a royal warrant for the first time in 170 years after it got dropped from King Charles’s list of warrants.

Queen Victoria first awarded Cadbury with the title in 1854 which was then repeated by the late Queen Elizabeth II in 1955 who was a huge lover of the chocolate.

Keep ReadingShow less