Third-party concessions enhance the everyday in-store shopping experience,” suggests Ian Roberts, UK MD of Sushi Daily, which runs more than 100 concessions in Waitrose and Asda. “They can provide food-to-go and freshly made food experiences, while introducing an element of theatre as consumers watch food being prepared,” he adds. “Where there is demand, supermarkets are keeping fish and meat counters, but are also adjusting to a more convenience-led and meal solution basis too. Our solution works well in both cases.” Resistivity and (particularly) optical fish counters require in-river structures to direct the fish through the detection aperture of the counter. Fish ladders and Borland fish passes are effective structures for this purpose and occasionally a natural restriction within the river may be used for a similar purpose. However, for most counters a custom in-river structure will be required. One of the most effective such structures is the Crump weir, a triangular profile weir designed to ensure rapid planar flow over the detector. Morrisons, the UK’s fifth-biggest supermarket chain since being overtaken by Aldi in September, continues to offer deli counters at many stores, as do Waitrose and Marks & Spencer. But you need to believe in your offer and put investment behind it. Tesco is never going to outprice Aldi and Lidl, so you need to give customers a reason to shop with you.”

Aquascan

There is definitely a market for fresh food, and during the cost of living crisis I think we are going to see people eating out less and cooking from home more often, so the kind of variety these counters can offer may be something that is more in demand. This is used to accurately bait up and present a rig next to features. Payloads of bait, plus the rig, are placed in a baiting spoon and floated out to the required spot. The key disadvantage of optical counters is the small penetration of the beams through the water, restricting their use to narrow river features or in-river structures, an example being fish ladders.Fish counters can be divided into three principal types: resistive counters, optical counters, and hydroacoustic counters. The camera is installed in a special tunnel that contains both the camera and lights providing constant light, and same distance from the camera for the fish. That way, it is possible to get good images of the fish regardless of time of day. Fish counters of this type are used widely in Scotland to census populations of Atlantic salmon, where comparison with closed circuit television shows around a 97% detection rate. Some counters still do a great job and will continue to do so, says Roberts, but retailers will increasingly look to rent out their space in other stores. “We’ve seen both Tesco and Asda turn over space to halal operators such as Halal Food Centres and Haji Baba, which perform well in regions such as Yorkshire and London,” says Roberts, while Polish delis also play well where the local demographics are supportive.

Counter - Vaki Bioscanner Counter - Vaki

The popularity of our sushi concessions and international cuisine, along with 'Food for Now' options shows there has been a shift in customer behaviour and there is a need to provide a greater choice in our stores.And with competition growing from German discount chains Aldi and Lidl in recent years, Britain’s traditional supermarkets have been forced to find cost savings to remain competitive on price.