Fortnum & Mason
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | London, England (1707) |
| Founder(s) | William Fortnum and Hugh Mason |
| Headquarters | London, England, United Kingdom |
| Number of locations | 1 |
| Area served | United Kingdom United States Japan |
| Key people | Jana Khayat (Chairman) |
| Industry | Retail |
| Products | Luxury goods |
| Employees | c. 5,000 (2008) |
| Parent | Wittington Investments Ltd |
| Website | Fortnum & Mason |
Fortnum & Mason, often shortened to just "Fortnum's" is a department store and Royal Warrant holder, situated in central London, with two other branches in Japan. Its headquarters are located at 181 Piccadilly where it was established in 1707 by William Fortnum and Hugh Mason. It is privately owned by Wittington Investments Ltd.
Fortnum and Mason is recognised internationally for its high quality goods and as an iconic British symbol. It has held many Royal Warrants over the past 150 years.
Founded as a grocery store, Fortnum's reputation was built on supplying quality food, and saw rapid growth throughout the Victorian era. A venture into the US in the 1930's ended in failure, with the company's flagship store on Madison Avenue closing almost as soon as it opened. Though Fortnum's developed into a department store, it continues to focus on stocking a variety of exotic, speciality and also 'basic' provisions.[1] It is also the location of a celebrated tea shop.
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[edit] History
In 1761, William Fortnum's grandson Charles went into the service of Queen Charlotte and the Royal Court affiliation led to an increase in business. The store began to stock speciality items, namely ready-to-eat luxury meals such as fresh poultry or game served in aspic jelly.[2]
During the Napoleonic Wars, the emporium supplied dried fruit, spices and other preserves to the British officers and during the Victorian era it was frequently called upon to provide food for prestigious Court functions. Queen Victoria even sent shipments of Fortnum and Mason's concentrated beef tea to Florence Nightingale's hospitals during the Crimean War.[3]
In 1851 Fortnum & Mason first created the Scotch egg and in 1886, after having bought the entire stock of five cases of a new product made by a Mr H.J. Heinz, became the first store in the world to stock tins of baked beans.[3]
The store was acquired by Canadian billionaire W. Garfield Weston, who became its Chairman. 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, four-foot high models of William Fortnum and Hugh Mason emerge and bow to each other, with chimes and 18th century-style music playing in the background. Since Garfield Weston's death in 1978, the store has been run by his granddaughters, Jana Khayat and Kate Weston Hobhouse and the Managing Director is Beverley Aspinall.
The store underwent a £24 million refurbishment in 2007, celebrating 300 years of existence.[4]
[edit] Food Quality
In a survey conducted by leading UK chef Aldo Zilli for a British newspaper in December 2009, Fortnum's smoked salmon was rated only one place above Tesco at 5/10 for quality (Fortnum's smoked salmon was said to be '...so saturated with salt it's almost inedible) and 3/10 for value for money, at £180 per 1.6kg (Morrison's at £5.79 per kilo is £170 cheaper and scored 9/10 in taste tests). [5]
[edit] Hampers
Fortnum & Mason is famed for its loose-leaf tea and its world-renowned luxury picnic hampers, which the store first distributed to Victorian High Society for events such as the Henley Regatta and Ascot Races. These hampers — which contain luxury items such as Stilton cheese, champagne, Quails eggs and smoked salmon — remain popular today, especially at Christmas time and can cost (as of 2008) anything from £35 up to £25,000.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "Suzy Gershman's Born to Shop London - Google Books". books.google.com. http://books.google.com/books?id=OO8CqRensxcC&pg=PA131&dq=Fortnum+%26+Mason&client=firefox-a#v=onepage&q=Fortnum%20%26%20Mason&f=false. Retrieved 2009-10-04.
- ^ "Open For Business". F&M. 2006-05-11. http://www.fortnumandmason.com/Our-History/1707-Open-For-Business.aspx. Retrieved 09/01/2009.
- ^ a b "1815: Our Waterloo". F&M. 2006-05-11. http://www.fortnumandmason.com/Our-History/1815-Our-Waterloo.aspx. Retrieved 09/01/2009.
- ^ "Opening the new Fresh Food Floor". F&M. 2006-05-11. http://www.fortnumandmason.com/Our-History/2004-FandM-Japan.aspx. Retrieved 09/01/2009.
- ^ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-1234936/Celebrity-chef-Aldo-Zilli-asks--supermarket-salmon-best-catch.html
