For the Association, that industry has changed enormously.

The sandwich remains an important part of the story and always will. Britain's sandwich industry created the foundations on which the Association was built: high technical standards, collaboration between competitors, a strong supply chain and a willingness to tackle common challenges collectively.

But the modern food to go market extends far beyond sandwiches.

It crosses product categories, retail channels and traditional industry boundaries. Manufacturers make increasingly diverse ranges. Suppliers serve multiple sectors. Retailers compete for eating occasions rather than simply selling particular types of food.

The Association's own work has broadened in exactly the same way.

A wider agenda

Today's challenges demonstrate just how interconnected the sector has become.

Sustainability affects ingredients, packaging, manufacturing, logistics and retail.

Changes to food legislation and labelling can affect businesses throughout the supply chain.

Work around food standards in healthcare brings together manufacturers, technical specialists, caterers and public bodies.

Employment, inflation, energy, supply chains and changing consumer behaviour don't recognise traditional industry categories either.

Through technical forums, guidance, industry meetings and direct representation, the Association continues to give businesses a place to address those issues collectively.

Its role is not to tell an extraordinarily diverse industry that every business is the same.

It is to identify where their interests come together.

Representation when it matters

A trade association's most visible activities are not necessarily its most important ones.

Awards, events and publications bring people together and celebrate what the industry achieves. Behind them sits year-round work that is often less visible: responding to consultations, discussing proposed regulation, working with government departments and regulators, developing guidance, supporting members and raising issues that might otherwise struggle to be heard.

There are also the unexpected problems.

An urgent technical question. A new piece of legislation. A supply chain issue. A crisis affecting the sector.

The details change, but the principle that led to the creation of the original British Sandwich Association remains relevant: businesses with shared interests are stronger when they have a way to work together.

A new name for the industry we represent

The move to become the Food to Go Association is therefore much more than a change of name.

It reflects what has already happened to the market, to the membership and to the work of the Association itself.

It creates an organisation in which manufacturers, suppliers, retailers and associate businesses from across food to go can see themselves – while retaining the expertise, relationships and heritage built over decades of representing the sandwich industry.

The Association began because a developing industry needed standards, support, representation and a way to bring its people together.

Those needs haven't disappeared.

The industry has simply become much bigger.

The sandwich was just the beginning.