Tossed, the healthy food-to-go operator is to open its first site in a year in Horseferry Road in April and will be part of the refurbished Fleet Services, MCA understands.
Finance director Neil Sebba told MCA that after a year of focussing on the rollout of its cashless technology, the currently 21-strong brand was now primed for growth.
He said the group saw opportunities arising due to expected consolidation in the food-to-go sector and said the backing of a supportive shareholder base would allow it to take advantage of these.
However, he said that in many cases vendors still had unrealistic expectations on price.
The next opening, the first headed up by new head of operations, Daniella Stecig, will be in a former Costcutter store underneath the headquarters of the Department for Transport.
Sebba said: “It’s exciting because it’s the first site we’ve opened for a year. Our focus over the last couple of years has been around revolutionising the technology element of the front line. That work has been done and has made a huge difference to the business. Now we can focus on rolling that model out.”
On opportunities in the market, he said: “We are lucky in that we have supportive investors but it’s about looking at what opportunities are in play. I think there will be are a lot of consolidation opportunities in our market coming up. It just depends on how realistic people are going to be on the value they are putting on sites. But certainly there is a sense that people are looking at their strategic options whereas we are one of the few companies in this sector that is in growth mode.
He said January had started well, with a big push on hot food and vegan options and that consumer demand was holding up well.
The group is in the process of rolling out its cashless technology across its currently five-strong Welcome Break estate, after a successful trial. He said the group was keen to look at further opportunities in this segment.
