Marks and Spencer 2007 Annual Report Download - page 21

New stores and food hospitality
We see scope for growth in our food business by opening food
halls in new main chain stores and new Simply Food stores,
which you can read about on page 23. But expanding space
is not the only way to grow. The eating-out market is worth
around £28.4bn (source: TNS Outlet tracker) – we think we can
take a bigger share of this market. We are concentrating on five
different formats.
Café Revive, with 217 in-store cafés and around 40 more
planned this year, is the third largest UK chain of coffee shops.
In 2007/08, we will introduce a stronger food offer, including
more choice for children, and more bakery and hot food. ‘Hot
Food To Go’ counters have been successfully trialled in 15
stores and will go to a further 21 stores this year, leading to an
eventual roll-out further down the chain.
Our four ‘Deli Bars’ provide a sophisticated place to relax over
freshly prepared dishes with a glass of wine or fruit juice.
Another four will open this year. ‘M&S Restaurant’ in Newcastle
is our first in-store restaurant, with 130 covers, table service
and classic M&S dishes made to order. It’s one of the best
examples of how we are reaching new customers and four
more are planned this year.
‘M&S Kitchen’, currently a one-store pilot attached to our
Canterbury store, has a strong hot and cold food and alcoholic
beverage offer to eat-in or take-away. It targets customers who
want to enjoy lunch, brunch or supper in a more sophisticated
setting.
Trust
Trust is one of the cornerstones of our business and our
customers expect us to take the lead on ethical trading and the
environment. Through Plan A we will continue to improve our
already high standards.
One of the big issues we are tackling is packaging. We currently
use around 79,000 tonnes of food packaging annually. Of this,
about 25,000 tonnes is glass, mainly wine bottles, for which
recycling schemes already exist. We are committed to reducing
non-glass packaging by 25% by 2012 – this applies to all our
packaging, not just food.
To reach this target we will unpack some less fragile produce,
remove unnecessary layers, replace cardboard sleeves
with labels and make packaging lighter. We will also make
packaging from sustainable or recycled sources and clearly
label it recyclable or compostable. We have already labelled
some 12% of our food products with this information.
As we grow our food business we expect trust to be
increasingly important to our customers. Independent research
shows we are one of the UK’s most trusted retailers, but to
maintain this position we must continue to tackle the big issues.
AWARDS
In 2006, we won a number of awards
for our excellence in food. We are
particularly proud of the awards we
have won for our fish. Greenpeace,
the Marine Conservation Society, the
Seafood Choices Alliance and Fish
Farmer Magazine have all recognised
our commitment to sustainable
fish sourcing.
www.marksandspencer.com/annualreport2007 MARKS AND SPENCER GROUP PLC 19
FAIR PARTNER
We now have over 70 ‘Fairtrade’
certified food products on our
shelves. During 2006/07, we
launched ‘Fairtrade’ wine;
expanded our range of fresh
‘Fairtrade’ produce to include
whole and prepared pineapples
as well as grapes; and in February
we converted all of our conserves
and jams to ‘Fairtrade’. And we are
still the only major retailer to sell
only ‘Fairtrade’ tea and coffee.
SUSTAINABLE RAW MATERIALS
In February 2007, we launched our first
organic fruit and vegetable box.
Available in two sizes and presented in
a 100% recycled cardboard box, each
comes with information on the origin of
the products, shelf life and details on
the environmental benefits of organic
produce. The boxes also allow us to
offer a wider range of produce to
customers in our smaller stores.
Executive Team Your Board Financial
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