Fortnum & Mason
| File:FortnumAndMasonLogo.JPG | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | London, England (1707) |
| Founder | William Fortnum and Hugh Mason |
| Headquarters | , |
Number of locations | 1 |
Area served | United Kingdom United States Japan |
Key people | Jana Khayat (Chairman) |
| Products | Luxury goods |
Number of 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 1930s ended in failure, with the company's flagship store on Madison Avenue closing almost as soon as it opened.[citation needed] 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.
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.In 1738 Fortnum & Mason claimed to have invented the Scotch Egg, a hard boiled egg encased in sausage meat and breadcrumbs. 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]
Charles Drury Edward Fortnum F.S.A. (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.[4]
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 Britain to stock tins of baked beans.[3]
The store was acquired by Canadian businessman 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, 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. 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.[5]
On 26 March 2011 Fortnum & Mason was targeted by UK Uncut during anti-cuts protests over the tax avoidance policies of Associated British Foods, which, like Fortnum & Mason, is owned by Wittington Investments. [6] This took the form of a mass sit-in. As of March 27 some protesters were still reportedly behind bars.[7]
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.
Competition
Main competitors of Fortnum & Mason on the worldwide gourmet and luxury food products scene include Harrods and Harvey Nichols in London, Bettys and Taylors of Harrogate in the north of England, and Mariage Frères, Dammann Frères, Kusmi Tea, Hédiard, and Fauchon in Paris.
Gallery
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The famous clock on the façade of the main building -
Fortnum & Mason -
Fortnum & Mason
See also
References
- ^ "Suzy Gershman's Born to Shop London - Google Books". books.google.com. Retrieved 4 October 2009.
- ^ "Open For Business". F&M. 2006-05-11. Retrieved 09/01/2009.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ a b "1815: Our Waterloo". F&M. 2006-05-11. Retrieved 09/01/2009.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ British Museum website; biographies (no stable link)
- ^ "Opening the new Fresh Food Floor". F&M. 2006-05-11. Retrieved 09/01/2009.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ UK Uncut Occupy Tax Dodgers Fortnum and Mason. 26th Mar 2011.
- ^ Video: Occupation of Fortnum & Mason by UKuncut was peaceful, by Sunny Hundal. March 27, 2011.
External links
Media related to Fortnum & Mason at Wikimedia Commons