Marks & Spencer to sell food in Costa Coffee stores

Marks & Spencer will sell sandwiches and hot food in more than 2,500 Costa Coffee stores in a bid to target workers no longer commuting to the office every day.

About 30 products including salads and children’s food will be available in neighbourhood locations, drive-throughs, high streets and retail parks. 

The partnership with the UK’s biggest coffee shop chain will allow the retailer to attract customers that have changed their shopping habits since the pandemic hit. 

Stuart Machin, chief operating officer t of M&S, saidhe collaboration gave “many more customers the opportunity to enjoy our wide range of sandwiches, salads and snacks”. 

Steve Dresser, director at Grocery Insight, said it was a “great move” because it would boost M&S’s food-to-go sales battered by Covid: “It makes sense to get the volumes by supplying a popular third party like Costa.”

Moreover, it will give Costa customers greater choice after the chain admitted it was missing some lines in recent months due to the lorry driver shortage. 

M&S already sells food at more than 300 BP petrol stations across the UK and also has a presence in a small number of WH Smith stores. 

British Airways ended its contract with M&S to provide flight food on short-haul flights last October after a three-year partnership.