Fresh meatloaf rolls, hot meatballs, crisp vegetables and creamy gratin: just three years after its launch at REWE, the 100th Hot Bar is going live. The option to put together your own hot snacks has been extremely well received by our customers. A real success story.
A Thursday morning during the summer holidays. It’s just 10 o’clock. The hot bar at Sven Sprenger’s REWE-Marktplatz in Düsseldorf’s Kö-Galerie has just been restocked when the first customers reach for paper bowls and bread rolls, busily filling them with vegetables, side dishes and crispy, browned meat snacks. Many opt for the dish of the day. Today, the menu at ‘deli am Markt’ features pork medallions with rosemary potatoes and bacon-wrapped beans. With its ever-changing selection of home-style cooking, the self-service island in front of the service counter offers variety on the menu and an alternative to the ubiquitous takeaway fare.
“Our best-selling items are meatballs, meatloaf and schnitzel,” explains Sven Sprenger. “The dish of the day also goes down very well.”
Hot takeaway food has been available at REWE for some time now. Most of the time, the mouth-watering dishes are sold from the service counter. The Hot Bar, on the other hand, is relatively new. Just like the popular salad bar, our customers can put together their own hearty snacks here. Whether it’s a meatball roll or a full lunch set – most items are charged at a flat rate per 100 grams. Exceptions are (half) chickens and chicken drumsticks, which are sold by the piece.
Quickly weigh it, stick the price label on, pay and enjoy.
Thomas Bähner, Head of Food & Beverage Concepts at REWE
Thomas Bähner, Head of Food Concepts at REWE, currently sees potential for the Hot Bar in around a third of all REWE stores. Store managers can put together the solution that best suits their needs using a modular system comprising three deli bar formats, combining both hot and chilled display units. Self-service and staff-assisted service can be combined within a single counter layout. The most common solution is the Hot Bar island, which customers are already familiar with from the salad bar.
„In today’s busy shopping centres, food and drink outlets are an integral part of a full-range retailer’s concept.“ Thomas Bähner, Head of Food & Beverage Concepts at REWE
From the Hot Counter to the Hot Bar
The Hot Bar is not simply a traditional deli service (hot counter) in a new guise, but rather a further development of the portfolio of tried-and-tested deli concepts, moving towards greater self-service, flexibility and takeaway options. The concept applies the principle of the popular salad bar to hot dishes: customers help themselves, fill a bowl or reusable container with their chosen dish and then pay by weight. The Hot Bar thus combines freshness, flexibility and speed. Instead of fixed portions, customers can put together their desired quantity individually. At the same time, the self-service concept allows for straightforward integration into the store’s own convenience food production, provided such a process is already successfully established in the store. The 100th Hot Bar nationwide will open in mid-September.
Food service in the retail sector
The food service sector in German supermarkets is booming. According to the EHI Retail Institute, it recorded growth of 6.1 per cent in 2024, with record turnover of almost 13 billion euros expected in 2025. Whilst traditional restaurants are struggling with rising costs, staff shortages and declining customer numbers, supermarkets have discovered the takeaway business as a lucrative source of revenue. According to the EHI, the keys to success are professional concepts, standardised modules and centralised management.
The market
REWE Sven Sprenger
Königsallee 60
40212 Düsseldorf
Opening hours:
Mon–Sat, 7 am to 10 pm
Sven Sprenger has been running the REWE supermarket in the Kö-Galerie in Düsseldorf for ten years.
one: How long has the Hot Bar been in your shop?
Sven Sprenger: We had the opportunity to set up a Hot Bar as a standalone unit in a pilot store immediately after our regional service conference in March. Convenience has always been a major focus for us.
one: What should you bear in mind if you want to set up a Hot Bar?
Sven Sprenger: Of course,you need to have space for it, but above all you need to have someone on the team who’s keen to do it. If you have someone who doesn’t just stock the Hot Bar with ready-made convenience foods, but can also chop vegetables and prepare salads themselves, that naturally adds enormous value. Even if not every shop has a cook and a kitchen, there may still be a way to prepare something in-house. I’ve been lucky enough to always have people who were really keen on doing this sort of thing. In short, you have to nurture it and breathe life into it. However, Rewe also offers a wide variety of excellent product ranges should in-store production not be an option. Which items are ultimately sold is of secondary importance. We’ve had great success with our lunch menu. Anyone who’s strong in convenience products will also be successful with the Hot Bar.
one: How often does the Hot Bar need to be restocked?
Sven Sprenger: We dothis continuously, from late morning through to the afternoon. During this time, the food is being cooked through, and someone is constantly shuttling back and forth between the oven and the Hot Bar.
one: What do you do with the unsold stock?
Sven Sprenger: Anything that hasn’t been sold by 5 pm can, within the permitted product shelf life, either be packed as takeaway – for example, the meatballs with a sachet of mustard each – or sold individually from the salad bar once they’ve been chilled. Consequently, our wastage is extremely low. Overall, we’ve doubled our catering revenue with the hot bar.
- Hot lunches, snacks and light bites
- Self-service instead of a counter
- Pricing by weight or per item, depending on the range.
- Complements the salad bar, deli service (hot food counter) or other ‘deli at the market’ concepts.
- Particularly for customers looking for a quick meal ‘to go’