The chain is planning to launch takeaway restaurants at 60 stores over the next year serving fresh curries, pizzas, Chinese meals, fish and chips and other fast foods.

Asda is hoping the new idea will help to attract more customers

Shoppers will be able to order food before they set off down the aisles with their trolleys and pick up piping ready to eat meals when they have finished.

The menu will include Asda's ready-made meals, but chefs will also prepare a range of fresh foods.

In the UK about 35p of every £1 of household food spending is on meals prepared outside the home and the figure is rising rapidly.

A spokesman said: "We see a definite fit between people shopping and buying meals away from home.

"Takeaway food is already a very fast growing sector. Now people will be able to do their shopping and order food as well."

Those not wanting to take the food home with them will be able to sit down and eat it in 200-seater restaurants.

Food on the go

The stores will also run a limited "drive-through" menu for people not shopping.

Asda said the move would create around 100 new jobs at each of the participating restaurants.

It is planning to invest around £30m on the programme, which borrows heavily from supermarkets in the US.

Fish and chips as well as groceries could soon occupy our shopping trolleys

The first restaurant will open in Canterbury, Kent, next month and a further 59 potential sites had been identified.

Asda has 217 stores around the UK and has made a name for itself as being an innovative chain, running non-grocery branded items like the George range of designer clothes.

It was recently linked in merger talks with retail group Kingfisher in its bid to make itself more competitive and reach the critical mass of rivals Tesco and Sainsbury's.

The group is due to publish its final results on June 25 and analysts expect Asda to show profits of about £400m with sales growth still expected to outperform a lacklustre food industry.