Interview with M&S boss STUART MACHIN: We’re reinvesting in Christmas food and tempting the under-35s

A video plays on a large screen above the atrium of Marks & Spencer’s headquarters in Paddington, west London. The first images come from the retailer’s new Christmas food TV advert, starring Dawn French dancing amidst tables piled high with dishes from M&S’s “merry menu”.

A visitor to the offices quietly mutters “it’s not just any food, it’s M&S Christmas food”, quoting the shopkeeper’s slogan.

The video then cuts to shots of staff and stores, overlaid with exhortations to always strive to improve in groceries, clothing, capital allocation, and all other areas.

Stuart Machin, M&S’s chief executive, still declares himself “positively dissatisfied” despite the 43 per cent rebound in the share price since January and a 17 per cent rebound in half-year profits to £408m.

These figures, higher than analysts’ forecasts, show that the retailer’s recovery is advancing at full speed.

But the retailer leaves nothing to chance. After all, the share price of this High Street landmark is still 20 per cent down in a decade.

Kathryn Turner, director of food product development, has presided over improvements in everything from holiday sandwiches to turkey dinner with all the trimmings and vegetables that can be cooked in just an hour.

As I sit down to try some of these dishes with Machin and Turner in the headquarters kitchens, it’s clear that the bar will be raised much higher, with lessons learned from perfecting sandwich bread and prepared vegetable dishes like cauliflower. cheese applied to products for all seasons.

The strategy behind this is driven by a double principle. Machin and Turner recite it together: ‘Eliminating quality is never an option. When in doubt, design higher quality.

They recognize that their demanding process can be a test for suppliers. But tribulations can create a deep connection. Machin says: ‘Our suppliers are very proud; they see themselves as part of M&S.’

The retail chief executive, neatly dressed, as always, in M&S clothing, has just spoken to the press and analysts in the city about the results and outlook for Christmas and beyond. Also on the agenda are the consequences of the Budget, which will add billions in costs for businesses. M&S alone faces £120m a year in additional taxes and costs following budget increases to employers’ national insurance and minimum wage contributions.

Machin says this will not immediately translate into increased prices, but the additional burden will nevertheless present a dilemma next year.

At the moment, however, it’s focused on Christmas 2024 and how the M&S food team is trying to make it memorable.

The rarity of eating pigs in blankets in early November quickly gives way to amazement at the enormous investment made in this dish. As Machin says: “We have pigs in blankets.”

£2 million has been spent on double-wrapping the best bacon around a premium sausage, as a single strip tends to unravel, making it look less good and somehow not as tasty. Marks & Spencer’s recovery is based on big strategic moves, such as the reorganization of the approximately 1,500 stores, but also on such small but important adjustments to the products on sale.

I remember another mantra: “retail is detail,” as Machin, Turner and I move on to Christmas sandwiches. Turner describes the “reboot” of sandwiches from the Shelter range, which benefits the homeless charity.

The bread has been improved through a painstaking process involving flour varieties and baking times. The filling layer contains only the best Italian chestnuts.

The variety of Christmas party snacks shows the same devotion to seemingly minor items that can prove to be a big point of difference. The mini burger is a tiny version of the premium ‘Best Of’ burger. The shrimp toast is handmade in Vietnam.

If your Christmas hosts greet you with a glass of mulled white wine, you’ll know it’s an idea from the beginning. Machin says: “Mulled wine is usually red, but I tried a mulled white wine at a Christmas market in Germany and knew we had to have one.”

It has reintroduced the Dutch drink advocaat, made with eggs, sugar and brandy, to satisfy the new nostalgia for snowball cocktails made with the drink.

Improvements in the food range for Christmas and the rest of the year are often inspired by cultural changes. Members of the M&S food team constantly follow competitors’ dishes, but also trends on TikTok and Instagram.

The bark, a brittle sweet made of very thin layers of different types of melted chocolate, is the snack of the day on social media. Marks & Spencer offers their version alongside another social media favourite: Muddles. These are caramel and chocolate covered almonds created by a small Somerset baker.

For millions of Marks & Spencer’s 32.5 million regular and irregular customers, it wouldn’t be Christmas without traditional cakes, puddings and mince pies. But, as Machin and Turner explain, people under 34 are less fond of the vine fruits, raisins and sultanas that are the basis of these staple foods.

That’s why M&S has launched puddings, such as an improved chocolate yule log, containing the finest Madagascar chocolate. Panettone, the Italian Christmas favorite, is the increasingly popular substitute for Christmas cake.

Kathryn Turner, a 30-year veteran of M&S, says the family-owned Italian bakery that produces the panetto suspends the dough for eight hours to help it expand. This ensures that the texture is soft and chewy, rather than crumbly, making the cake easy to dip into a cup of strong coffee, Italian style. Machin and I do just that.

Recognition of the change in Christmas dining and other eating patterns is altering the demographics of Marks & Spencer’s clientele, which tends to be older. Machin says: “More and more young families are coming to us for their weekly shop, rather than just the nice little things they used to buy in Marks.”

This is due to their cheaper Remarkable range, but also to lower the price of items if they do not display at least the same quality and value as their rivals.

If Brits are willing to spend more this Christmas in search of something special in the way of food, Machin and his team say they are up to the challenge.