YO! announces new Food-to-Go trial at 390 Tesco stores: YO!, the multi-brand, multi-channel Japanese and Asian food group, has announced a new trial agreement to supply pre-packaged YO! Food-to-Go products to 390 Tesco stores. The new agreement will see YO! Food-to-Go products available in Tesco front-of-store fridges from late May. As well as YO! favourites such as Crispy Salmon Rolls, Chicken Katsu Bites, the range will include a bespoke product- Crispy California rolls specially made for Tesco. David Hampton, managing director of retail at YO!, said: “We’re really excited to be expanding our partnership with Tesco as part of our multi-channel strategy aimed at introducing more people to Japanese food and sushi. With all of us starting to go out and about more, now is the perfect time to test our ready-to-eat front-of-store range in Tesco, and we are excited to see the response from consumers.” YO! already operates 52 YO! kiosks in Tesco under the YO! brand and 37 kiosks in Asda, under the Panko brand. Meanwhile, YO! Food-to-Go pre-packaged sushi is already available in 600 Sainsbury’s stores, 160 Co-op stores, 100 David Lloyd Leisure Clubs, and a trial partnership is also under way with WHSmith. The group’s Taiko brand is also available in Waitrose. 

April’s delivery and takeaway sales up fourfold on pre-covid levels: Restaurant and pub groups recorded a fourfold increase in delivery and takeaway sales in April from pre-covid-19 levels, CGA’s latest Hospitality at Home Tracker has revealed. Combined delivery and takeaway sales were 345% higher than in April 2019, when the sector was fully open for eating out. Sales grew by 11% from March 2021, despite the reopening of restaurants, pubs and bars for outside service in England from mid-April. Month-on-month growth in takeaway sales was notably higher than in deliveries. CGA said the figures suggested deliveries, takeaways and at-home meal kits, which have all soared in popularity during the lockdowns of the past 14 months, are likely to remain a major part of consumers’ habits well beyond the full reopening of hospitality. “Surging delivery and takeaway sales have been a major side-effect of covid-19 lockdowns and a lifeline for many operators in the first few months of 2021,” said Karl Chessell, CGA’s business unit director – hospitality operators and food, EMEA. “As restaurants, pubs and bars reopen, the way consumers balance ordering in and eating out will be a major dynamic in sales and marketing strategies and a significant factor in profit margins.”