Ashan Chaudry’s Triple ‘a’ Foodhall is a 3,400sq ft state-of-the-art space in Nuneaton, Warwick­shire. It marries the offerings of a convenience store with a food-to-go range not commonly found in the independent shop sector. While the site may be larger than the aver­age convenience store, it has truly maximised the area to demonstrate how best to provide for customers of all ages.

Chaudry opened Triple ‘a’ Food­hall in September 2022. The business has since become a “whirlwind” success.

“The journey started eight years ago in Canada, when my business partner and I stumbled on a store for lunch while attending a busi­ness conference ,” he says. “There was so much fresh – pasta, pizzas and juice. We returned to the UK at a crossroads. Should we refit our store or try to achieve even half of what we witnessed in Canada, at a UK market-scale? We decided on the latter, after seeing similar setups in Ireland, Germany and Austria.

“These stores’ breadth of fresh were far superior to anything we’d seen in England. Since setting up, we’ve been proud at how far we’ve come – the awards we’ve won and our ability to compete with symbol stores. We’re pioneers in this space.”

Growing Triple ‘a’ Foodhall’s reputation through an influencer strategy

The store has seen its reputation boom, with customers coming from “as far as Leicester and Birmingham” to visit. Custom­ers have even travelled there from South America.

“Customers from far and wide have found us, but how? If you have something good, people will travel. Part of this achievement was even­tually pushing content on social media through influencer strategy,” says Chaudry.

The store boasts an extensive food-to-go range, crafting a large amount of unique flavours and food combinations in-house, while also delivering to consumers on a very personal basis.

Chaudry has additionally ensured that the environment is a happy and stable one. He places plenty of focus on the fulfilment and success of employees. Additionally, he capitalis­es on any opportunity to carry out brand activations by getting custom­ers and staff involved.

Social media and store activations

Using online platforms such as Instagram and TikTok has enabled Triple ‘a’ to build up anticipation of product launches, allowing branded collaborations to become a “real talking point locally and further afield”, Chaudry explains.

“We partnered with PepsiCo to undergo a product launch for its new extra Flamin’ Hot range. Not only did we engage on our social media platforms leading up to the event, but we also completely covered our glass facade with the Flamin’ Hot product in vinyl.”

Triple ‘a’ Foodhall learned from the launch the value of giving away products and having a sampling station for cus­tomer engagement. This also paved the way for event feedback.

“Since then, we have been inundated with other compa­nies wishing to do product activations and launches at the store,” he says.

Branded packaging for Triple ‘a’ Foodhall

Triple ‘a’ has been developing the store to make it “not only a community store, but also a destination point”, Chaudry explains, with a strong focus on getting the shop’s brand out there.

“From our salad bars, gelato counters, hand-stretched Nea­politan pizza… the list goes on. Branding and packaging are key so customers can associate Triple ‘a’ Foodhall with a brand they can trust.”

Chaudry adds branded pack­aging was “very difficult” to set up, and it was important for them to focus on competing on quality and attention to detail as opposed to price.

“When we started, we invested in 20,000 tote bags and gave these out for free. We were serious about getting our name out there. We moved onto packaging for our 40 cakes, taking six months to develop a branded box with our logo. Branding is massive because as an indie you can’t compete on price, but you can with quality and service.”

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Expanded product range

Using customer feedback and market research, Triple ‘a’ has been guided to introducing new products and seeing a sales boost from them.

“We used feedback to expand our in-store milk­shake range from two flavours to four, as the demand for flavours has been immense,” says Chaudry.

The investment in expand­ing milkshake flavours paid off, with the category’s sales rocketing by 49%.

“We are expecting this to increase further due to seasonal changes and a media campaign. Because we develop our flavours in house, we have retailers wondering if we could supply in bulk for their stores.”

Chaudry adds the store’s salad bar is also “always under development”, the gelato counter now offers 16 flavours, up from eight. The store keeps up interest through weekly samples of its bakery products and pizza.

Staff management

Taking care to focus on its team and morale is a key part of Triple ‘a’’s success.

“We sit down twice a week, and we also take different areas of the team out for activities like bowling or go-karting. Bonding is key.” Chaudry noted keeping a team together can help staff work more closely.

“Part of this can also be being tight on uniform stan­dards. Staff wear headsets to keep back-of-house and front-of-house connected.

“We give responsibility to team members to place orders and run departments them­selves. I go round each day to see how they are performing.”

Chaudry adds that his next steps for team development include taking staff abroad to “show them what’s happening” in the sector elsewhere and get each department to its best.

“When you show them the best, they want to beat it. Store development and staff development is crucial to us.”

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