- Spending more time at home has led to more having breakfast bakery items and savoury treats
- Marks & Spencer’s Head of Product Development shares 2020’s upcoming summer food trends
Quintessentially British brand Marks & Spencer has reported a spike in sales of premium breakfast food items and its popular snacking range as consumers spend more time at home than ever before. Delivery application partnerships with Deliveroo and el Grocer have helped to drive this increase meaning tasty treats can be delivered straight to the front door in under an hour.
Following the #stayhome directives, working from home has become normality for many and less time for commuting has given UAE residents more time to spend on the most important meal of the day. Popular breakfast items UAE residents have been ordering include Village Crumpets, Brioche Rolls enriched with butter and Super Soft Thick White loaves of bread. Forget rushed breakfasts before heading out the door, people of the UAE have been following the old adage, ‘Eat breakfast like a King’.
Starting the day with a hearty and filling breakfast might be the first thing that people in the UAE do in the mornings, but this hasn’t stopped people from snacking for an afternoon treat. Data from Marks & Spencer has shown that when it comes to snacking shoppers are team savoury vs sweet where favoured food options include Cheese Tasters, Prawn Cocktail Shells and Onion Rings.
April Preston, Director of Food Product Development at Marks & Spencer lists the four food trends set to be big this summer:
Dairy-free ice cream
With families now spending more time at home and temperatures heating up, getting a treat from the freezer to cool down will be a priority for everyone, no matter their dietary requirements. That’s why we’ve made sure shoppers can now find dairy-free versions of their favourite cooling summer classics at Marks & Spencer, including Made Without Dairy Chocolate & Caramel Sticks and Vanilla & Caramel Iced Dessert. And if this wasn’t enough, we’re set to launch our first ever vegan Plant Kitchen Ice Creams in chocolate and raspberry ripple later this summer – the latter is perfect with our juicy Sapphire Raspberries or enjoyed by itself.
Cooking up world cuisines from scratch
More than ever before, households are revisiting memories from past holidays to create their favourite dishes from abroad in the comfort of their own kitchens. To help families transport their taste buds and shake up their mid-week meals, we’re expanding our much-loved Cook With M&S range with a selection of brand-new convenient cooking pastes and seasonings. Made with authentic ingredients from a wide range of world cuisines, these versatile jars do all the hard work when it comes to making dinner. This means families can explore delicious dishes from around the globe in just a matter of minutes, with new flavours to discover every night of the week.
Plant-based eating
With many Marks & Spencer customers choosing a more flexitarian diet, this is a super exciting trend that’s showing absolutely no signs of slowing down. We’re expecting to see an even bigger leap forward in new products suitable for vegans, with a diversification in plant proteins and experimentation with flavours. Following on from the successful launch of the Plant Kitchen range last year, we’ve turned the heat up and challenged ourselves, focusing particularly on turning well-loved products into plant-based versions and celebrating vegetables in all forms. Look out for over 30 vegan-friendly dishes now available in-store including delicious No Beef Burgers, Sweet Potato & Red Pepper Sausages and BBQ Pulled Jackfruit Pizza.
The freezer is your friend
Frozen food is no longer a stigma, with more and more people using their freezer as an extension of their fridges and pantries – to minimise food waste, lock in freshness and reap the benefits throughout the week of batch-cooking for their families. In recent months, we know many of our customers have moved towards doing bigger, less frequent shops, and so the freezer is the ideal way for them to make their food last longer before their next trip into store. Our new freezer-friendly products at M&S include convenient frozen ingredients such as Chopped Garlic, Sliced Mushrooms and Sliced Leeks as well as some amazing frozen seafood.
Customers can shop Marks & Spencer premium food lines in the brand’s food halls, M&S Food app and on Deliveroo and el Grocer.
