A 15% year-on-year increase in sales at Welcome Break’s new look format at Birchanger Green has cemented the motorway service provider’s plan to roll out this next generation service station to its other sites across the country.
The refurbishment at Birchanger Green cost £1.2million, and saw the creation of an open, more welcoming environment, with the use of large glass windows and a striking triangular glass roof which lets in lots of natural light. The site, which originally opened in 1995 and cost £10million, now features a premium food court, welcoming established brands such as Tossed, Starbucks, Papa Johns, Waitrose and Subway alongside favourites Burger King and KFC.
Warmer welcome
Customers can enjoy a rest from the stresses of the road on the comfortable ‘S’ shaped seating which creates a relaxed, sociable atmosphere, while watching TV on the large, multi-screen video wall. New iconic soft seating at the entrance and stripy design feature pillars along with lighting and booth seating reinforce the Welcome Break brand values of creating a warmer welcome.
Sales success leads to roll out of new format
The decision to make Birchanger Green the flagship of Welcome Break’s new look came after the company saw a 20% upturn in business at its new food courts and significant like-for-like non-fuel sales growth of around 10 per cent across all sites. After the success of the new Birchanger Green, which saw visitor numbers increase by more than 2,000 vehicles in the month after its opening, this new format will be launched at other sites around the country.
The Oxford services on the M40 is now also complete with the new line up of brands and design features and South Mimms is next on the list. Over £8million has already been set aside for this project for 2015.
Rod McKie, CEO of Welcome Break commented: “We see Birchanger Green as the future of the motorway service station and are thrilled with its success so far. It offers a far more relaxed, comfortable environment with a host of great brands for the customer to enjoy and the growth in sales demonstrates this is what the customer wants. We’re now in the process of rolling this out to other Welcome Break sites and plan for these to be similarly successful.”
About Welcome Break
Welcome Break is one of the UK’s leading independent motorway service operators, and has over 27 sites across the UK. Formed in 1959, Welcome Break now has over 50 years’ experience in the sector and attracts 80 million motorway customers a year. Welcome Break employs more than 4500 team members who strive to proudly and passionately offer its customers world class hospitality and retail brands such as Waitrose, Starbucks, Harry Ramsden’s, KFC and Burger King in a friendly and relaxing environment.
It has recently announced a new partnership with the world’s largest specialist sandwich provider, Subway, and branches have opened at nine Welcome Break locations to date. It has also partnered with salad brand bar Tossed, with the first unit opening at Birchanger Green on 23 May 2014.