UK

The company will team up with entrepreneur Sarah Willingham for the programme.

Traditional grocery spend, meanwhile, decreased.

This is now the coffee brand’s seventh site in England.

It is also slated to open a second branch in early summer. Securing their expansion plans in London, Taiwanese tea brand YiFang has announced that it has opened its first permanent location in the UK. The cult brand, currently trading from a temporary unit at Old Spitafields Market, was assisted by leisure property agency Shelley Sandzer to acquire a permanent kiosk at 104 Shaftesbury Avenue. YiFang gets its inspiration from the founder’s childhood memories of drinking tea with his grandmother, after whom the brand is named. They showcase a range of all-natural teas are made with no preservatives or additives. The brand also follows unique sourcing by harvesting their premium tea from their own mountain plantations, hand-pick fruit from their own rural farms and locally sourcing from New Spitalfields Market.  “We are excited to open our first permanent location in the UK and look forward to opening the second site shortly. We’ve been given exceptional assistance and guidance from Shelley Sandzer and look forward to working with them as we introduce the Taiwanese tradition of drinking tea and the culture of our country to the UK,” YiFang’s Pokai Wang said.

Here is a summary of the most interesting QSR news stories of the week from around the world.

Find out what QSRs have been up to on social media. NEW ON THE MENU Abokado wants you to try their new veggie offering: the Dragon Roll. This is made with plant-based ingredients and topped with a sprinkling of crunchy seeds. LEON lays it thick by releasing their 'thickshakes' - now available at Oxford, Brent Cross and London Bridge, as well as Spitalfields, Hammersmith and Bankside. PROMOS 

The global coffee brand is also celebrating its 20th year in the UK.

A research firm lists down five reasons why. IGD claims that the UK capital continues to stand out as a destination for food-to-go. They share key observations explaining the innovations being bred in the city:

Three more restaurants are also expected to open throughout the year.

Research suggests that demand for healthier options will continue to grow. Latest research from IGD suggests that a wealth of new opportunities for categories and products is present due to the changing behaviour of consumers. According to the research firm, here are the three traits of what they call the “future food-to-go consumer”: 1. Changing the way we eat People are focusing more on fitting food around their lifestyles, rather than vice versa. And operators are responding. For example, food-to-go specialists have been providing more gym and protein boxes over the past year. We expect both niche and mainstream operators to concentrate more on this during 2018. 2. Health considerations will be more important We’re seeing growth in healthier food-to-go ranges. In the UK for instance, Pret’s opened many customers’ minds to vegetarian lunches and breakfasts. Free from options are becoming core features in ranges. Our shopper research shows demand for wider vegetarian and free-from ranges. Nearly a third (30%) of food-to-go consumers seek more vegetarian options, 22% want more dairy-free and 20% desire larger gluten-free ranges. It’ll be key for retailers to make healthy options easy to find, even with this interest. We’ve seen that when grabbing food on the go, people often revert to the easiest option. So, if finding something healthy requires special effort they’re less likely to do it. 3. Food-to-go on more occasions Shoppers aren’t always consuming food-to-go immediately, it’s also becoming food for later. Many are buying food-to-go products as part or all of an evening meal. They’re also looking for hot options; these feature in nearly half of food-to-go evening meal purchases. Plus, shoppers buying food-to-go in the evening spend significantly more than for other missions. This could present an opportunity for suppliers to develop more premium products.

The site in Belfast will be the first of a number of additional planned locations. Furthering their nationwide rollout, Tim Hortons set to debut its first site in Northern Ireland at noon time today. Upon opening, the first 100 people in the line will receive a free lunch combo while the first person in the queue will be granted with a year’s supply of their signature brewed coffee. The new Belfast site brings the total number of Tim Hortons stores to 17, almost a year after debuting its first-ever UK site in Glasgow, Scotland. “We are thrilled to be bringing our famous brewed coffee, baked goods and freshly-prepared food to the people of Belfast. Following the success of our recent Restaurant openings in Scotland, Wales and in England, we can’t wait to bring a taste of Canada to Northern Ireland at our new Restaurant and welcome new guests,” Tim Hortons UK Chief Finance and Commercial Officer Kevin Hydes said.

eMarketer also expects user share to shrink due to newer payment options in the market. Beating a triumvirate of mobile payment platforms, Starbucks is expected to remain the most popular “proximity” mobile payment app in the United States from this year up to 2022. According to market research company eMarketer, 23.4 million people ages 14 and over will use the Starbucks app to make a point-of-sale purchase at least once every six months. This is ahead of the 22 million people who will use Apple Pay, Google Pay (11.1 million users) and Samsung Pay (9.9 million). Proximity mobile payments in particular are made at a cash register in a store. “The Starbucks app is one of the bigger success stories in mobile proximity payments. It has gained traction thanks to its ability to tie payments to its loyalty rewards program. For users of the app, the value of paying with their smartphone is clear and simple—you can save time and money at the register, all while racking up rewards and special offers,” eMarketer forecasting analyst Cindy Liu said. The global coffee brand’s app is also first in terms of adoption rate, followed by Apple Pay, Google and then Samsung. The latter apps vary in merchant acceptance. eMarketer opines that their share of mobile payment users will continue to drop due to expected new merchant-branded payment apps entering the market. “Retailers are increasingly creating their own payment apps, which allow them to capture valuable data about their users. They can also build in rewards and perks to boost customer loyalty,” Liu said. Starbucks worked on their app since 2010 while Apple Pay launched in 2014 – prior to the debut of Google and Samsung’s respective payment apps.  

42% of the respondents, meanwhile, said that they will a go to a restaurant if it had a good app.

The franchising deals include a “bespoke, premium” offering in an established restaurant.

The online food delivery company is also set to expand its Editions delivery-only super kitchens. To further support the UK restaurant industry, Deliveroo has announced that it is setting up a new £5 million 'innovation fund' to invest in the sector, new chefs and new restaurant concepts.

The company will handle the global brand’s cashless transactions for the next five years. McDonald’s, together with its franchisees, in the UK and Ireland announced that it has selected Ingenico Group to handle the global brand’s growth in cashless transactions. This is in response to a growing number of sites in the UK where electronic payments have overtaken cash. Currently, customers of McDonald’s UK are able to pay for the brand’s signature offerings via their Click and Collect app, through in-restaurant self-service order screens or when using a Drive Thru.