The UK Street Food Revolution Continues and Is Increasingly Influencing Mainstream Dining
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AN UPDATE ON THE DEVELOPING UK STREET FOOD SCENE AUGUST 2017 The UK street food revolution continues and is increasingly influencing mainstream dining. Since our last snapshot report in April 2016, the popularity of street food in the UK has continued to grow. As product and presentation formats become tried and tested, and street food organisers and operators become more established and more sophisticated, there are signs that street food is itself increasingly moving from novelty to mainstream. View our street food film here. The UK street food scene 1 What’s changing – an update Street food continues to be one of the most popular, diverse and exciting sectors of the UK dining scene. Since our snapshot report in 2016 there have been no major moves or shakes in the sector, but there are some signs that the market is maturing, and bringing some changes. Here are our top 10 views and insights on what’s happening… 1. Traders have learned the ropes Most traders that we surveyed in 2016 are still around and there are relatively few new kids on the block. With some years of experience under their belts, most traders have now learned the ropes, know what works and have tried and tested business models and established, proven and polished food formulas. 2. The collectives are getting stronger Increasingly, KERB and Street Feast (London Union) are almost exclusively the route to market for many street food traders in London, and they have grown to powerful positions. This looks set to continue. Whilst there are lots of positives about this, covered in more detail in this report, the potential downside is conformity, as may be seen at Camden Market where new, uniform, more ‘sanitised’ stalls are due to be introduced for all traders. 3. Uniformity could be creeping in With proven formats in place there’s just a hint that the overall street food offering is settling to be more uniform and perhaps less challenging. There’s still plenty of cuisine diversity, but also lots of convergence in product formats, especially in hand held. 4. Still excitement, but perhaps less novelty? The market is settling. Traders have honed their product formats to the ones they know will sell and their staff can produce profitably. Consumers are experiencing street food more regularly. Perhaps inevitably, it all becomes more commonplace. There’s a buzz still, especially around the big congregations of traders, but might consumers start to feel that they’ve seen it all before? There’s a real opportunity for further innovation in ingredients, formats and presentation. The UK street food scene 2 5. Some business owners are becoming less directly involved Some business founders are stepping back a little from direct customer contact and employing staff to run their stalls and deliver the proposition through trained process. Can this be done as passionately as by the original business owner, or might the story, so much a part of customer engagement, get lost in translation? 6. Robust flavours are still popular Indian, Mexican and Far Eastern flavour profiles remain popular, brought to life with top note seasonings, spices and sauces. In street food the ‘theatre’ and transparency of finishing dishes with seasonings, spices and sauces is still all delivered front of house. 7. Fusion continues Whilst some street food is defined by a specific geographical cuisine, increasingly it’s blurred by a fusion or combination of flavour profiles, the rational being anything from exploration, whim or passion of the business owner, ‘it just tastes good’, or simply why not! In many cases the bread carrier is the unifying factor. 8. Hand held is still king For obvious reasons, bread based containers and wraps remain the most common delivery format, with topped bread products (pizzas, naan etc) also popular. 9. The Eastern Mediterranean is emerging Greek, Turkish, Lebanese and Israeli dishes and flavours are emerging as alternatives to Indian, Eastern and fusion dishes. When delivered authentically, these largely unknown flavour profiles and formats present a great opportunity to invigorate consumer interest in street food. 10. Health and dietary choice play an increasing role Street food traders are increasingly aware of consumer choices, especially around vegetarianism and veganism and concerns around specific ingredients and allergens, and are proactive and up front with signage about it. The UK street food scene 3 So, what’s this street food all about? It has, of course, always been possible to buy food from street vendors in the UK. From Victorian sellers serving penny pies and pickled whelks to cheap hot dogs and greasy pittas dispensed from the late night kebab van. The original food carts and trucks were intended to bring hot food to areas of the UK’s cities that lacked it, feeding hungry workforces and pub-goers, sometimes starting in the early hours of the morning or late at night after nightshift workers had finished up and restaurants were shut. This food was cheap, filling and tasty, but far from balanced nutrition or reliable provenance. But the term ‘street food’ as it’s now commonly understood refers to a quite different and expanding concept in the UK. Gone are the days when street food meant only grease and convenience. Now it offers fresh, often local, ingredients and extremely varied international offerings. Street food has gone upmarket, satisfying the demand for recreational dining as much as filling up hungry workers. This ‘modern’ street food has various influences and inspirations, but it’s generally considered to mean ‘artisan food sold on the streets, or more accurately, not served from restaurants or cafés’ (streetfood.org.uk). But this definition is itself quickly becoming out of date, as mainstream operators begin to pick up on street food influences, and some street food traders are themselves moving to bricks and mortar business models. Things are changing rapidly. The UK street food scene 4 The global perspective Today, street food is eaten by 2.4 billion people a day across the world (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN), so for many countries street food is much more ingrained in their culture than in Europe, the United States or especially the UK. In most developing countries street food is a necessity, not a fancy trend – an affordable way for workers, primarily, to eat tasty, nutritious food during a busy day away from home. Meals and snacks are served throughout the day, from breakfast until late at night and are usually based on the most popular and distinctive dishes of the region. But necessity doesn’t mean poor quality. On the contrary, this kind of street food is usually expertly and consistently prepared, often by vendors who specialise in a particular dish. Fierce competition and discerning diners keep standards high and ensure that dishes are packed with flavour to keep customers coming back. And so began the UK street food revolution Though the pickled whelks and tripe had evolved into burgers and kebabs, ten or twelve years ago the UK street food scene remained pretty dire, at least against any measure of quality, provenance or innovation. But in the United States a different story was unfolding, which was to inspire a small revolution in our own dining culture. ‘The ‘modern street food’ movement started on the west coast of America in about 2004, when catering trucks from LA movie sets were taken onto the streets. Then along came the recession and many chefs found themselves out of work or unable to afford restaurant rents, and so took renovated postal trucks onto the streets to provide high quality, no frills food to the people of California.’ (Charles Banks, co-founder of global food trends agency, thefoodpeople) When the trend reached New York, it started to catch the attention of curious and canny foodies in the UK, notably Richard Johnson, who went on to found British Street Food. He launched the British Street Food Awards in 2004, which have taken place every year since. The UK street food scene 5 The street food revolution in the UK began and has proliferated most in London, of course, but has expanded quickly to many of the UK’s major cities, especially (but not exclusively) Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Brighton and Leeds. Whilst the trend remains a city- centric phenomenon, it is also reaching non city-dwellers through exposure at festivals and events. Eager as we are to adopt anything new and exciting, the UK consumer has enthusiastically embraced this new way of eating. In a 2014 survey by Allegra Strategies for Santa Maria (face-to-face interviews in London): • 50% of people interviewed bought street food at least once a week • 81% of those purchases are at lunchtime • Two thirds of respondents spent £5 or more on street food – more than the average lunchtime spend* • Variety of choice, tastes and flavours, as well as freshness of locally sourced ingredients were cited as the main reasons people buy street food (*And yet 61% of people think they spend less than a normal lunchtime spend on street food. It’s thought that this is because people don’t rate their street food experience on the same scale as a sandwich, but more on the level of a restaurant meal.) The UK street food scene 6 What does the UK street food scene look like? A fresh new wave of imagination and dedication has seen bleak burger stands replaced by passionate and talented traders working from vans, huts and caravans (the vehicle of delivery plays an important part), serving food from all over the world. But who are they, what do they serve and how have they made such an impression? Clearly, one of the big upsides for street food is that there's less risk for both the operator and the consumer, and that’s showing up increasingly as multi-ethnic fusion food and much higher flavour.