Marks & Spencer has a significant stake in the UK bakery market, with 450 bakeries, but by 2009 changes in the sector and increasing competition meant these bakeries weren’t achieving their potential. Following on from the success of the new M&S Café concept the same in-house retail team were given the task of reviewing and reigniting the in-store bakery.
KIWI&POM were appointed alongside the in-house team to deliver a more authentic, artisan look and feel to reconnect and bring the bakery into the heart of the food hall. The new format opened in Kensington, London, in August 2011, with the baking process and ‘theatre’ of the bake being brought to the fore.
Today, with more than 100 new concept bakeries now trading, profitability has increased to almost twice that of the average food hall. One in seven products are now purchased from the bakery, proving the true halo effect of the new area on the food hall. Staff positivity is up to 92% in the annual M&S survey ‘Your Say’.