Co-op Launches New ‘Food to Go’ Retail Stores Focused on Hot Meals and Convenience

TL;DR: Co-op has launched a new chain of small-format ‘Food to Go’ stores across the UK, focused on hot meals, ready-to-eat deli pots, and quick convenience. The new 600–1,000 sq ft stores open from 7am–7pm and do not stock cigarettes or household goods. Instead, they offer freshly prepared breakfast, lunch, and dinner options, including porridge, wraps, and pizza slices, with delivery available after hours. The format is designed for high-footfall areas and reflects changing consumer habits around fast, flexible meals.

SOLIHULL—Today, Co-op opened a very different kind of store. No detergent. No family packs. No cigarettes or vapes. Just breakfast pots, deli wraps, and a hatch for Deliveroo pickups.

It’s the first of a new chain called Co-op On the Go. A smaller format retail space, open 7am to 7pm, focused purely on ready-to-eat food. The concept will offer 600 to 1,000 square feet of on-the-go retail, with more hot meals, fewer aisles, and not a trolley in sight. Fourteen more are opening this year, with hundreds planned if all goes to plan.

“It’s not just smaller,” says Co-op Food MD Matt Hood. “It’s a complete rethink of what convenience means.”

This isn’t the first time Co-op has tried something like this — it tested a similar idea in Manchester back in 2018. But the timing feels sharper now. With the way we eat, shop, and move around cities changing fast, the grocer is leaning into the moment with more clarity and confidence.

What’s on the Menu?

From turmeric porridge in the morning to hot pizza at night, the new store covers the full food day. Lunch features sweet potato bhaji wraps, smoked salmon and spinach pots, and all-day breakfast bowls. Some stores will cook Co-op’s Irresistible pizzas to order — by the slice or whole. After hours, they’ll switch to delivery-only, sending out hot meals through Deliveroo or Co-op’s own app.

And it’s not just about the food. These stores won’t stock cigarettes or household basics like toilet roll. They’re not pretending to be your corner shop. They're designed for one thing: good food, fast.

The range includes 35 new products made specifically for the format. That alone signals ambition.

A Quiet Challenger to Greggs and Pret?

Co-op says it already holds around 15% of the UK’s food-to-go market. This move isn’t about entering the space, it’s about growing their share, particularly at breakfast and dinner, where they’ve historically been weaker. The idea is to complement their strength in sandwiches with more hot options, better variety, and locations that work harder, high streets, transport hubs, and busy footfall spots.

While Greggs is still recovering from a drop in sales during the recent heatwave, and Pret continues its rapid rollout, Co-op is offering something different: deli-style food with grocer quality, made for people who don’t want to queue, wait, or think too hard.

Why Now?

Because we’re eating differently. Fewer big shops. Fewer ingredients. Less time. Nearly 70% of dinners in the UK now use six ingredients or fewer, according to Kantar (The Guardian). Shoppers are looking for fast, healthy(ish), good-enough meals, and they’re looking close to home.

The new format taps into that. Smaller stores, smarter hours, no fluff.

A Fresh Start

The launch also comes after a tough stretch for Co-op, including a cyber-attack that disrupted operations and leaked customer data. The business says it’s recovered, and this new rollout shows where its energy is going next.

“This feels ripe for us to step into,” says Hood.

Whether or not the format takes off, it says something about the moment: we’re all trying to do more with less. And that includes lunch.

“It’s a brand-new concept, and we believe there’s real demand for it,” says Hood. “We’re excited to see these stores join our wider network across the UK.”

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For further reading, this from YouGov.