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Company type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Retail |
Founded | 1707 |
Founders | William Fortnum Hugh Mason |
Headquarters | |
Number of locations | 5 (2019) [1] |
Area served | United Kingdom Hong Kong Worldwide (via stockists and online) |
Key people |
|
Products | Luxury goods |
Number of employees | 708 (2016) [2] |
Parent | Wittington Investments Ltd |
Website | fortnumandmason.com |
Fortnum & Mason plc (colloquially often shortened to just Fortnum's) is an upmarket department store in London, England. The main store is located at 181 Piccadilly in the St James's area of London, where it was established in 1707 by William Fortnum and Hugh Mason. There are additional stores at The Royal Exchange, St Pancras railway station and Heathrow Airport in Greater London, at K11 Musea in Hong Kong, as well as various stockists worldwide. Fortnum & Mason is privately owned by Wittington Investments Limited. [3]
Founded as a grocery store, Fortnum's reputation was built on supplying quality food, and it saw rapid growth throughout the Victorian era. Although Fortnum's developed into a department store, it continues to focus on stocking a variety of exotic and speciality food along with 'basic' provisions. It is known for its food hampers. [4]
The main store has since opened several other departments, such as the gentlemen's department on the first floor. It also contains a tea shop and several restaurants.
William Fortnum was a footman in the household of Queen Anne. The royal family's insistence on having new candles every night resulted in large amounts of half-used wax, which Fortnum promptly resold. Fortnum also had a side business as a grocer. He convinced his landlord, Hugh Mason, to be his associate, and they founded the first Fortnum & Mason store in Mason's small shop at St James's Market in 1707. In 1761, William Fortnum's grandson Charles went into the service of Queen Charlotte, and the connection with the royal court led to an increase in business. Fortnum & Mason claims to have invented the Scotch egg, in 1738. [5] [6] The store began to stock speciality items, namely ready-to-eat luxury meals such as poultry or game served in aspic jelly. [7]
During the Napoleonic Wars, the emporium supplied dried fruit, spices and other preserves to British officers. In the Victorian era, it was frequently called upon to provide food for prestigious court functions. Queen Victoria sent shipments of Fortnum & Mason's concentrated beef tea to Florence Nightingale's hospitals during the Crimean War. [8]
Charles Drury Edward Fortnum (1820–1899), of the family, was a distinguished art collector and a Trustee of the British Museum, to which he donated his collection of Islamic ceramics. [9]
In 1886, after having bought the entire stock of five cases of a new product made by H. J. Heinz, Fortnum & Mason became the first store in Britain to stock tins of baked beans. [8]
The shop at 181–184 Piccadilly was rebuilt between 1926 and 1927 to a Neo-Georgian design by the architects Wimperis, Simpson and Guthrie. The building also incorporates 22–27 Duke Street and 42–45 Jermyn Street. [10]
In April 1951, the Canadian businessman W. Garfield Weston acquired the store and became its chairman following a boardroom coup. [11] In 1964, he commissioned a four-ton clock to be installed above the main entrance of the store as a tribute to its founders. Every hour, 4-foot-high (1.2 m) models of William Fortnum and Hugh Mason emerge and bow to each other, with chimes and 18th-century style music playing in the background. The chimes were incorporated into Jonathan Dove's orchestral adaptation of Zeb Soanes' children's book Gaspard's Foxtrot, which depicts the clock and its figures as illustrated by James Mayhew. Since Garfield Weston's death in 1978, the store has been run by two of his granddaughters, Jana Khayat and Kate Hobhouse. The Chief Executive Officer is Tom Athron, who joined the business in December 2020.
The store underwent a £24 million refurbishment in 2007 as part of its tercentenary celebrations. [12]
In March 2012, Queen Elizabeth II, Camilla (then Duchess of Cornwall) and Catherine (then Duchess of Cambridge) made their first official joint visit to Fortnum & Mason. During this visit, they were each presented with their own personalised hampers. [14] The Queen opened the Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon on the fourth floor.
In November 2013, the company's first additional store was opened at St Pancras International station. [15] The retailer has since opened stores and restaurants at Heathrow Terminal 5 (in 2014) and at The Royal Exchange (in 2018).
Fortnum & Mason opened its first standalone store outside Britain in Dubai on 21 March 2014.
On 4 April 2019, it was announced that Fortnum & Mason would open a Hong Kong store at K11 Musea in September 2019. The 7,000 square-foot space features a retail store and restaurant. [16]
Fortnum & Mason runs an annual food and drinks awards scheme. [17] According to the company's former CEO Ewan Venters, the awards recognise ‘the pinnacle of high achievement in food and drink across the media’. The awards celebrate writers, publishers, presenters, image-makers and personalities working in the food and drink industry.
The 2018 awards ceremony was hosted by Claudia Winkleman and winners included Nadiya Hussain, Nigel Slater and Jay Rayner. [17]
Fortnum & Mason holds three royal warrants, granted by Queen Elizabeth II, King Charles III and Queen Camilla [18] [19]
Their first royal warrant was granted in 1910 by Queen Alexandra. Later Royal Warrants were granted to Fortnum & Mason by King George V, though Fortnum & Mason temporarily lost their warrant for his son, King George VI, in 1948, due to post war rationing of the time. The warrant for King George VI was restored in 1951. [18]
Later, King George VI and his consort Queen Elizabeth, known as The Queen Mother after the death of King George VI in 1952, both granted Fortnum & Mason Royal Warrants. [18]
In 2022, Fortnum & Mason was a sponsor of the Platinum Pudding Competition, as part of the official celebrations of the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II. [20] [21] [22]
Fortnum & Mason was also one of sixteen partners of the Platinum Jubilee Pageant, held on 5 June 2022. [20] [23]
In November 2010, animal rights group PETA UK began a campaign against Fortnum & Mason's sale of foie gras, citing the cruelty in the production process. The group regularly held demonstrations involving celebrities, activists and volunteers outside the store. Celebrities supporting the campaign included Geezer Butler, Sir Roger Moore, [24] Owain Yeoman, [25] Tamara Ecclestone, [26] Bill Oddie, [27] Twiggy [28] and Morrissey. [29] In 2011, Fortnum & Mason was reprimanded by Westminster Trading Standards for misleading customers about its animal welfare standards. [30] As a result, the grocer changed its corporate social responsibility document to state that only UK suppliers are required to adhere to its welfare standards. In December 2020, Fortnum & Mason ceased sale of foie gras in favour of an alternative seen as more ethical, foie royale.
On 26 March 2011, Fortnum & Mason was targeted by the group UK Uncut, who broke off from the main 2011 anti-cuts protest march to target the tax avoidance policies of Associated British Foods, which, like Fortnum & Mason, is owned by Wittington Investments. [31] This took the form of a mass sit-in, with some 138 UK Uncut protesters arrested. [32]
Fortnum's history of offering a wide variety of foodstuffs is referenced in the 1960 Hammer Studios film, The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll . Set in 1870s London, Mr Hyde quips regarding a lively and risqué London nightspot, "Rather like Fortnum & Mason ... you can buy anything here."
In Alan Bennett's play The Madness of George III (also made into a 1994 film), set in the late 1780s, a footman named Fortnum leaves in a huff to start a "provision merchant's in Piccadilly." This is an anachronistic reference to the founding of the store, as William Fortnum's position as a footman in the royal household was many decades earlier, in the reign of Queen Anne.
In Anthony Trollope's novel "The Claverings," Sir Hugh Clavering disdains to trust Fortnum and Mason to provision his yachting trip to Norway. "He was not a man to trust any Fortnum or any Mason as to the excellence of the article to be supplied, or as to the price."
Foie gras ; French:[fwaɡʁɑ], ) is a specialty food product made of the liver of a duck or goose. According to French law, foie gras is defined as the liver of a duck or goose fattened by gavage.
Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a chain of upscale department stores in the United Kingdom that is operated by Selfridges Retail Limited, part of the Selfridges Group of department stores. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge in 1908.
Coronation chicken or Poulet Reine Elizabeth is an English dish of boneless chicken traditionally seasoned with parsley, thyme, bay leaf, cumin, turmeric, ginger and peppercorns, mixed with cream or mayonnaise, and dried apricots. Some modern variations also incorporate cinnamon. It is served cold and eaten as a salad with rice, peas and pimentos, or used as a filling for sandwiches. It was created by Constance Spry, an English food writer and flower arranger, and Rosemary Hume, a chef, for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.
Hatchards is an English bookshop claiming to be the oldest in the United Kingdom, founded on Piccadilly in 1797 by John Hatchard. After one move, it has been at the same location on Piccadilly next to Fortnum & Mason since 1801, and the two stores are also neighbours in St. Pancras railway station as of 2014. It has a reputation for attracting high-profile authors and holds three royal warrants granted by King Charles III, Queen Elizabeth II, and Prince Philip respectively.
Associated British Foods plc (ABF) is a British multinational food processing and retailing company headquartered in London, England.
Thomas Henry Charles Parker Bowles is a British food writer and food critic. Parker Bowles is the author of seven cookbooks and, in 2010, won the Guild of Food Writers 2010 award for his writings on British food. He is known for his appearances as a judge in numerous television food series and for his reviews of restaurant meals around the UK and overseas for GQ,Esquire, and The Mail on Sunday.
Dame Mary Rosa Alleyne Hunnings is an English food writer, chef, baker and television presenter. After being encouraged in domestic science classes at school, she studied catering at college. She then moved to France at the age of 22 to study at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school, before working in a number of cooking-related jobs.
The production of foie gras involves the controversial force-feeding of birds with more food than they would eat in the wild, and more than they would voluntarily eat domestically. The feed, usually corn boiled with fat, deposits large amounts of fat in the liver, thereby producing the fatty consistency sought by some gastronomes.
Jana Ruth Khayat is a British heiress and businesswoman who is a member of the Weston family. She serves on the board of the Fortnum & Mason department store in London.
Wittington Investments is the name of two privately owned holding companies, one based in Britain, while the other is based on Canada. Both companies are controlled by the Weston family. Through these holding companies, the Weston family control some of the biggest names in food and retail on both sides of the Atlantic, including Loblaws and Associated British Foods.
UK Uncut was a network of United Kingdom-based protest groups established in October 2010 to protest against cuts to public services and tax avoidance in the UK. Various sources have described the group as left-wing in its political orientation.
Royal warrants of appointment have been issued since the 15th century to those who supply goods or services to a royal court or certain royal personages. The warrant enables the supplier to advertise the fact that they supply to the royal family, thereby lending prestige to the brand and/or supplier. In the United Kingdom, grants are usually made by the monarch, spouse, and heir apparent to companies or tradespeople who supply goods and services to individuals in the family.
Worcestershire Medal Service, Ltd., established in 1988, is a manufacturer of State honours and insignia. Working with the Ministry of Defence to assist in the licensing of the production of medals, they became the first company to be granted such a licence in 2004. They were granted a Royal Warrant as Medallists to Elizabeth II in 2008.
Monica Galetti is a Samoan-born New Zealand Chef. She is a judge on the BBC competitive cooking programme MasterChef: The Professionals and chef proprietor of Mere in London. She was senior sous-chef at Le Gavroche in London. As well as appearing as a judge on MasterChef: The Professionals from 2009 to 2021 and again in 2023, she has presented Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby with Giles Coren and Rob Rinder since 2017.
Anna Catrina "Kate" Hobhouse is a British heiress, businesswoman and philanthropist who is a member of the Weston family. She is the chairman of Fortnum & Mason, an upscale department store located on Piccadilly in London.
Mark Flanagan is a British chef, known to be the personal chef of Charles III and head chef of the Royal Household.
Liam Charles is a British baker, television presenter and contestant from Series 8 of The Great British Bake Off. He is currently a presenter on Bake Off: The Professionals and a judge on Junior Bake Off.
The Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II was the international celebration in 2022 marking the 70th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II on 6 February 1952. It was the first time that any monarch in British history celebrated a platinum jubilee, as is the case in the histories of the other Commonwealth realms.
The Platinum Pudding is a British pudding consisting of a lemon and amaretti trifle. It was created by Jemma Melvin in 2022 for a competition celebrating the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.
Fortnum & Mason.
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