Compass Group UK & Ireland, the UK’s largest food and support services firm, has announced a franchise partnership with EAT. – the leading high street grab-and-go brand.
This exclusive collaboration will be brought to life as part of a fantastic contract win for Compass Group UK & Ireland’s Instore business with Debenhams.
The EAT. partnership will initially be activated at two Debenhams’ stores in Basingstoke and Portsmouth, with a view to rolling this out across more Debenhams’ shops over the next few years. Debenhams restaurants, cafes and branded food partners serve the 19 million customers that use the 175 UK and Republic of Ireland department stores every year.
The EAT. concessions will provide customers with a variety of delicious fresh food, cooked from scratch every day and including hot food options such as pies, wok pots and soups, plus cold grab-and-go offers such as sandwiches, salads, cakes and pastries. Seasonal menus and ongoing recipe development will ensure the EAT. offer remains perfectly in tune with its customers. EAT. also serves great quality coffee, chilled frappes and coolers, as well as the finest tea.
EAT. will become a hugely valued addition to Compass’ growing partnership portfolio, as it joins a suite of leading brands that the business works with. These partnerships sit alongside a number of Compass own-brands, providing clients with the best of both worlds when it comes to choosing a solution that perfectly meets their individual requirements. This franchise partnership with EAT. highlights how Compass is meeting the evolving demands of the market, through offering a wide range of balanced and nutritional food-to-go.
Andy Rees, Managing Director for Instore, part of the Business & Industry division of Compass Group UK & Ireland, said, “This new brand partner is perfectly placed within our Debenhams contract and will deliver a fantastic range of good quality food and beverages to our customers. We’re delighted to be bringing the EAT. brand into our business’ offer.”
Louise Pilkington, Marketing Director, Compass Group UK & Ireland, said, “We’re thrilled to be extending our brand portfolio with such a well-respected national name as EAT. Our shared focus on providing customers with great tasting, seasonal food makes us an ideal match and will ensure we’re perfectly placed to adapt to the rapidly growing grab-and-go market.
'Our insights tell us food-to-go is what our customers increasingly look for, but they’re not prepared to compromise on taste and quality, so we’re confident working with EAT. is giving our consumers more of what they want.”
Andrew Walker, CEO, EAT. said, 'It feels really good to be launching a new exclusive franchise partnership with Compass to operate EAT. stores inside Debenhams and potentially in the future expanding to hospitals and universities within the Compass client base. We hope this is the start of a long and fruitful partnership.
'This is a great opportunity for EAT. to work alongside other leading brands and to reach a wider audience. The first of these opportunities is within Debenhams, and we look forward to sharing our great-tasting, good mood food with Debenhams’ shoppers!”
Sam Shutt, Head of External Business – Food Services, at Debenhams, commented, “Our partnership with Compass’ Instore business gives us the opportunity to maximise our customers’ shopping experience by offering a range of quality food and drink. We know our customers will love the EAT. brand and we’re looking forward to seeing it in two of our stores later this year.”
Compass’ recent ‘Eating Out of Home’ survey, estimates that the grab-and-go market is now worth £20.1bn in the UK.