- 5 weeks ago
Inside M and S at Christmas 2025
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00:01Last year M&S had a record-breaking Christmas.
00:05You've nailed that.
00:06This is the biggest Christmas we've ever had.
00:08And reported over £4 billion in sales.
00:11Last year was our strongest Christmas calling ever.
00:13Absolutely smashed it.
00:15But this year the high street stalwart has faced mammoth challenges.
00:19Marks and Spencer says it expects disruption from a major cyber attack.
00:23Now Christmas 2025 is more important than ever.
00:27Everyone's trying to do something different.
00:29With exclusive access.
00:31Yeah, happy with these.
00:32It's Christmas, guys.
00:33We follow as they continue to invest millions into their stores.
00:37How are you feeling?
00:38Anxious.
00:39Innovate hundreds of new products.
00:40I'm so excited.
00:42And create star-studded campaigns.
00:44Just a gay man and his mother.
00:46But how have they weathered the retail storm?
00:49We have got mountains to move.
00:51And can they beat last Christmas' sales?
00:53Looks a bit like a dog's dinner.
00:55It's quite harsh aroma.
00:56Nobody wants their Christmas dinner down their shirt.
00:59That'll have to go in the bin, I think.
01:00Are you either going to laugh or cry?
01:10It's a sunny day at the M&S Support Centre in London.
01:14Morning, sir. How are you doing?
01:16Good morning.
01:18On the second floor, recipes are already being developed for Christmas.
01:22The meat's definitely better.
01:24Definitely.
01:25I like that kind of slight sourness from the cranberry.
01:27Yeah.
01:28And on the first floor...
01:29So, thanks for coming, everybody.
01:31...product development director Catherine is holding one of many meetings with her product developers.
01:36So, within Kate, I think last year was our strongest Christmas calling ever.
01:39Christmas is hugely important for us.
01:42We get over a million extra customers during December.
01:46So, Harry, I feel quite sorry for you.
01:50How on earth are you going to top last year's Panettone?
01:53It's really important to us to innovate.
01:55So, every year, we have to come up with new ideas, and we take that really, really seriously.
02:00We can bring in some American influences.
02:04Who's American into Panettone, Harry?
02:06Let's give it a go. Let's see what we get.
02:08So, we've got a team of people, chefs and product developers,
02:12and our whole job is to make sure we have got the best product for our customer.
02:22Back on the second floor in one of the company's ten test kitchens...
02:26Actually, quite nice. Actually, I do like black tree. Cool.
02:28..even the classic Christmas turkey is being reinvented.
02:32We sell over a million turkeys at Christmas.
02:35So, one in five turkeys is sold from M&S.
02:39So, I think it's really, really key we do something that's different
02:43and a bit outside the norm.
02:45But that's a huge amount of pressure.
02:48Hi, Matt.
02:49With the fight on to retain M&S's market share, Matt's got a bold idea.
02:54I just want to talk to you today about possibly what we could do
02:57on a flavoured turkey.
03:00We're kind of thinking about a glazed finish
03:02that really, really enhances the flavour and...
03:06I like the idea of a glaze because the reality of it is
03:09the stuffing creates most of the flavour.
03:12We're thinking about maybe trying something with a bit of heat in it.
03:15I mean, you couldn't go too hot on, you know, your Christmas dinner.
03:19No.
03:20It would literally be too polarising.
03:21Yeah.
03:22Whatever you end up with needs to add interest but not be too scary.
03:28Yeah.
03:29To kick things off, Matt's cooking up different glaze flavours.
03:32I've got honey and mustard.
03:35I've got a maple.
03:37Very, very popular at Christmas.
03:39His final glaze is the wild card.
03:42This is pot honey.
03:43Very, very on trend at the moment.
03:45Yeah, let me add a bit more chilli to that.
03:49A bit of a brush.
03:51The glaze enhances the levels of flavour, really.
03:54And we use glazes in a lot of other products like hams and gammons, for instance.
04:00So why wouldn't a turkey work?
04:03So this is the honey and mustard.
04:05Very traditional.
04:09Mmm.
04:10And the mustard's clashing a bit with it, I think.
04:13So hot honey and eggs.
04:14Looks beautiful.
04:15I mean, the bacon's really, really gnarly.
04:17That is good.
04:19Really, really tasty.
04:21My only niggle is it's more summery than Christmas.
04:26But I love the having the heat.
04:28Now for the maple.
04:30Mmm.
04:33Maple, it's got more of a savouriness to it.
04:36It really, really works and lends itself with the meat.
04:39It's almost I want a combination of both.
04:42Merging the two together, you do a hot maple.
04:45It's really...
04:46Because that heat really works, even though it's a bit risky.
04:49But I definitely think this could be something different and something special.
04:52But the challenge is, will people go for a spicy turkey on Christmas Day?
05:01Have a lovely day.
05:04Another classic British tradition at Christmas is cheese.
05:08Who doesn't love cheese?
05:10I mean, Christmas without cheese would be a sad affair.
05:13But consumer tastes are changing.
05:16I mean, cheddar is still a hugely important part of the British cheese market.
05:21But I think people have got their eyes really open to lots of other cheeses.
05:25Cheddar's a bit boring for me. It wouldn't be my go-to.
05:28I'd much prefer a brie.
05:30My favourite cheese would be a French creamy blue cheese.
05:35The continental cheese market is now worth £1 billion.
05:39And to capitalise on the trend, the team are scouring Europe for a new cheese that will stand out on shelves in store.
05:46Today, Emy has travelled over a thousand miles to Toledo in Spain, one of only four provinces that produce the country's most famous cheese, Manchego.
06:00One of the perks of my job is I eat an awful lot of cheese, yes.
06:04Hi, Pedro. Hello. How are you, Emy?
06:07I'm really well.
06:08But it's a very serious business, trying to find the best, best cheese.
06:13She's here to sample some of her supplier's latest cheese innovations.
06:17So, I did mushrooms.
06:19Yes.
06:20Fig.
06:21Yeah.
06:22And black garlic.
06:23I don't think I ever tried a black garlic cheese.
06:25First one, this is mushrooms.
06:27OK.
06:28It's nice, but I don't really know it's mushroom, if I close my eyes.
06:36I don't think it's got enough about it.
06:38OK.
06:39We can try the fig.
06:43Mmm.
06:44I love this idea, but it's just too subtle.
06:46Yeah, we need more.
06:47More!
06:48OK.
06:49Perfect.
06:50Now, that one smells of garlic.
06:51Yes.
06:52I think we know that there's always going to be a core contingent of people who are quite traditional in their tastes,
06:57and that's brilliant, but we're also looking for something that people won't have necessarily seen before.
07:02Because black garlic's not something we use an awful lot of in the UK.
07:06It's a fermented garlic.
07:08OK.
07:09Yeah.
07:10So, you see how black it is?
07:12Oh, wow.
07:13You can taste it.
07:14Can I?
07:15If you want.
07:16It looks a little bit scary, actually.
07:17No, no, but it's good.
07:18It smells incredible.
07:19Yeah, yeah.
07:22It's really, really deep, savory, but sweet.
07:24It's like getting all my taste buds going.
07:26So, if you try on the cheese.
07:27OK.
07:28Mmm.
07:29They go together beautifully.
07:30It is a great match.
07:31I wasn't expecting to like that as much as I do, but I really like it.
07:32It's good, eh?
07:33It's very, very good.
07:34I think I'm going to take a bit of a punt on the black garlic.
07:35If I could take some samples.
07:36I do worry a little bit that black garlic might be a bit niche.
07:37This is certainly one of the kind of more crazy wild cheeses that we have looked to deliver.
07:42Will customers spy into it?
07:43I don't know.
07:44I think it's time to take it back to the UK and see what the rest of the team think.
07:49Back at the company's support center, work is also underway on one of the brand's most iconic products.
07:56Colin the caterpillar is a British institution.
07:57Our customers know and love him.
07:58I love him so much that I had both him and Connie for my wedding.
08:03Christmas cracker is a concept, feels very very strong.
08:24Each Christmas we give Colin a new makeover and year after year we have really upped our game
08:28He was a sleigh last year with the chocolate plaques alongside his body and this year
08:33We've decided to turn him into a Christmas cracker. I think as a theme it feels even stronger than sleigh ride Colin
08:38And it's iconically Christmas as well
08:41But reinventing Colin doesn't come without its challenges. I don't think we can sell that. No
08:48Colin at Christmas is a huge amount of pressure because Colin's reputation is always at stake
08:53Today Alice has traveled to her supplier in oldham to check on the new cracker design
09:00Our first
09:02Mockup of the Christmas cracker
09:04Exciting the visuals for Colin is so important
09:07We need customers to look into the box and see something that really blows our socks off and they have to have it
09:12This is the first cracker we've done and we've just gone big
09:19We've got some new sweet components that we've designed and we've got little party
09:22hats stars and confetti so it looks like it's exploding out of a cracker
09:28I would say it feels a bit clunky
09:32I think obviously as a cracker concept we've kind of got two different routes we can go down
09:35Colin coming out the cracker which obviously is what you've done here
09:38or Colin kind of being a cracker with the crackers across his back
09:43I obviously love the fact that it's got even more chocolate than last year
09:46but how on earth can you cut through that bit
09:48I think that's what we're probably going to find a challenge
09:51Because obviously the chocolate's so thick and I think customers could really struggle
09:54Yeah
09:55That's really difficult
09:57That is really thick chocolate
09:59The chocolate's way too thick it's going to crush all of the internal sponge
10:05It's too big
10:06I think realistically we're just not going to make it work are we
10:09Developing any product always has its challenges and you never really know what challenges will
10:12appear until you actually get into the nitty gritty of it
10:15This is a really tough product to get right so there's still so much to do
10:19We are absolutely not going to stop until Colin is perfect for Christmas
10:22It's obviously his biggest moment of the year and we want him to look fantastic
10:35Out of all the retailers food development experts there's one that's been particularly committed
10:40to refining a festive favourite every single year
10:44And he thinks he's got the best job in the company
10:47I love all parts of my job
10:49Who doesn't want to eat cake
10:51Everyone wants cake
10:53For the last four Christmases harry's been in charge of the brand's panettone range
10:57And look at that that's fantastic
11:00Packed with juicy peel
11:01In 2023 he perfected a traditional nocule latte recipe topped with a hazelnut crust
11:08So this is our nocule latte panettone
11:10And after selling more than 40 000 last year he's now working on a sister product to sit alongside it
11:16Bringing in a second product alongside our classic nocule latte panettone
11:20It is a little bit of a risk we want different we want to be bold but there's no point launching something that won't resonate with customers
11:29Today he's working with colleague sandy to sample early prototypes sent over by his italian supplier
11:35This is our amoretti biscuit crumb on top dark chocolate then this has an amoretti soak
11:41It's a bit of a crazy idea but we are seeing trends of italian american pasta sauces and things like that
11:49So i'm going for this american italian hybrid smashed together panettone
11:55It's a really it's quite harsh aroma it hasn't mellowed it hasn't balanced no concept number two is our eggnog panettone what the
12:05Supplier have developed is an eggnog custard so it's got an injection in the panettone
12:10Catherine was really clear the panettone's have got to be authentic
12:14I've gone off grid here eggnog is not authentic italian ingredient
12:18But let's see how the flavors fuse together and if it's the right thing to do then i can make that justification
12:24The gel is very coating
12:27It's too sweet it's not balanced very disappointing
12:31Last concept maple pecan so very american
12:37The structure of the panettone
12:40Is just breaking down from the syrup it's kind of soggy candy floss i can't really yes find another
12:46Another way to describe it we do love moist
12:50We do not like wet no three interesting concepts but they're not right to show catherine
12:55I think it was worth a shot agreed but the mad idea hasn't quite come to fruition and it's it's definitely going against the grain of being
13:02An authentic panettone
13:05I haven't got it right i've got a lot of work to do to get this project back on track
13:10And i'm running out of time
13:15Hi ladies how are you despite a turbulent year mns is investing over 300 million pounds on building new stores
13:27hey mate how are you and renovating existing sites
13:31Can we come around here and give it a good straighten up please i know we've had a really busy day
13:35in northern ireland the craigavin food hall is about to undergo a 12 million pound extension
13:43we are a very very busy shop
13:45we've outgrown our space so the extension all the customers have been asking for it
13:50and it's up to store manager ash to oversee the major revamp
13:54Chris come and get a colleague just to come and tailor this for me
13:57currently serving 14 000 customers a week and counting
14:01ash's store is expanding into the vacant retail unit next door
14:06so the store is transforming converting two shops
14:09into one shop so apparently doubling in size
14:13but we won't be closing the shop we will be trading all the way through so it's going to be very challenging
14:19do you want chicken caves the current store yeah it's a bit small it doesn't have everything that we need here
14:23and because it's just smaller store everything's tight too and sometimes it's so busy
14:28that i would just leave and come back later especially at christmas time the place was a lot busier
14:33people coming and going so yes the bigger store definitely will fit in perfect
14:38today the team are tackling phase one of the renovation
14:42an overnight move into the new section of the store
14:44we are about to close the shop at 6 pm and then ashley and his team and myself need to
14:52pretty much move the entire store over into the shiny new section
14:57this will allow the old section to shut down for its own renovation before both sections are combined
15:04and fully reopened in eight weeks time this is definitely not a normal launch i'm really nervous
15:11because we have got mountains to move tonight to top it all off the weather is causing further challenges
15:20as you can see we've had a double delivery today because of the storms cancellation over the weekend
15:24we're probably about 12 13 hours behind where we need to be so yeah are you rather gonna laugh or cry
15:32how you feeling anxious so we need to take this down from six o'clock then we need to move these
15:39temporary fridges next door we have got to strip this completely ashley is like a whirlwind to work
15:45one night to do it yep he doesn't stop he is 100 miles an hour that boy i started off working in
15:53retail when i was 16 uh part-time pushing trolleys while i was in college so that's 24 years in retail
15:59but it's brilliant i've never looked back thank you so much we're just about to close the shop for the
16:03last time in our old space which is really sad but really exciting at the same time with the old store
16:11shut the team now have 14 hours to move thousands of products ready to reopen at 8am
16:21so i need to get those two taken down and then we're going to put cards here
16:25i need that equipment for next door so what time do we start baking because we've got a lot to bake
16:32to fill this space well that's the problem the ovens at the minute aren't working you're joking
16:37a bit of spanners in the works so the holding's coming down here it's going to go left and then
16:43it's going to go right i think he's really nervous i need these two mods completely clear so far we're
16:48making progress but still very anxious still very nervous still loads and loads to do
16:59christmas isn't just the busiest time of year for the food hall it's also a crucial time for the mns cafe
17:05with the uk cafe industry now valued at over six billion pounds the brand are fighting to get more
17:16shoppers in the door thanks but to do so the food on the menu has to be as innovative as in store it's
17:23a really hard time at the minute in the hospitality and cafe industry so it's even more pivotal than ever
17:29that i develop products that keep our customers coming back for more at the support center rasheen
17:36is working on this year's christmas cafe menu this is my first year in the cafe development team
17:43whenever you move category there's always that little bit of pressure to make sure that you're
17:47delivering as much as the last person but always up for the challenge my big idea is to bring to life
17:55the yorkshire pudding wrap to think roast beef carrots spring greens gravy all wrapped up in a
18:04giant yorkshire pudding it's a modern twist on a classic today she's testing early samples from her
18:10supplier with the senior team in charge of the company's cafes across the entire country got a
18:15delicious british slow cooked for eight hours beef flanks the yorkshire pudding wraps are something that
18:21we see at christmas markets up and down the country every single year and it's something that
18:27we're really being inspired by so my job is to try and deliver that to our cafes we've got lovely
18:33horseradish bechamel as well as a lovely cheese and gravy bechamel i'm taking a bit of a gamble because
18:39we've never done a yorkshire pudding wrap before so hopefully we can nail it this year oh my goodness
18:46okay but the melt yeah that that melting and the spillage that's just not going to be acceptable
18:51well we need the sauce to stay in because it's cracked yeah it's more like a sandwich rather than a
18:57yorkshire pudding wrap it's letting out all the oozy cheesy bit which is the best bit we want the
19:02customer to get that in the in the wrap versus actually it's spilling out the sides i'm really
19:07concerned yeah machine about the crack yeah you just can't have that no absolutely not
19:16i think the flavor is absolutely amazing but i think in terms of the actual yorkshire pudding
19:23looks a bit like a dog's dinner yeah we can do so much better this is going to be our biggest selling
19:29line we hope that we're going to sell in our cafe this year and without the wrap sorted we just don't
19:34have a product the session wasn't how i would want it to go it was such a disaster i was so embarrassed
19:43the cracking of the wrap was our biggest issue nobody at christmas time wants their christmas dinner
19:50down their shirt so i need to go back to the supplier now to ensure that that is not what lands in store
19:56in christmas time
20:04it's not just food served in the cafe that the brand are reinventing
20:08in a bid to beat last year's 38 million pounds worth of sales party food is also in line for a major
20:15overhaul party food cheese the whole lot is pretty much what my basket's full of me personally it's the
20:21prawn sauce a bit of sweet and sour sauce absolutely every time product developer sarah is starting work
20:29on this year's range party food's definitely very competitive and it's something that is incredibly
20:35popular and really important to mns and that just makes it that a little bit more challenging every
20:40year to find brand new things that no one's ever done before i pretty much eat sleep and dream about
20:47party food at this point to be fair i've got some of the batter and the pre dust to stand out in an
20:52ever crowded market sarah has a daring idea to reinvent an old favorite so our plan this year is that we're
20:59going to combine fish and chips and we're going to put the chips in the batter of the fish so then you've
21:04essentially got one little can of a bite that you can pick up and eat we don't know if that's been
21:09done before it's certainly new for us today sarah's working with janine from her party food supplier
21:16to test what's possible i think our concern at the moment is the potato if we put big chunks of potato
21:21it might start sliding off the fish and then you'll end up with ball patches the first prototype has diced
21:27potato in the batter if i was a customer i was picking this up i don't know if i'd know this was fish
21:32and chips just a bit worried that they don't look like chips right i think maybe we need to go to
21:39sort of strips of potato so it looks more like a skinny chip we know customers love fish and chips
21:44it's the traditional british classic and i'm sure some people would prefer it to stay that way
21:51but party food's definitely about a little bit of fun it's probably the craziest thing that's happened
21:57to fish and chips now that looks much better doesn't it yeah these are definitely looking
22:02a lot more chip like they're giving still quite a good coverage from where we've got some quite
22:06delicate bits on the edges which i'd be a bit nervous about i was a little concerned when i saw
22:11the first sample in the second sample the chip was just that bit too big so it's a bit of a goldilocks
22:16moment we need to find the right you know sweet spot in between the two we need to make this work so
22:21we'll do everything we can to make sure this fish and chip product lands on shelves this christmas
22:28morning doing amazing morning are you okay it's 7 30 a.m in craigavon northern ireland and store
22:36manager ash is about to reopen phase one of his ambitious renovation extremely busy night all the
22:42guys have digged deep have you got it sure i've had about four hours sleep got home couldn't switch off
22:49woke back up decided to come back to work the guys were still powering through the night with me
22:53but we are on the final home stretch now
23:00well done eight o'clock the whole shop transformed good morning how are you
23:08would you like to try one of our new coppers yes that's very keen oh it looks fantastic my goodness
23:14made such a change it's a total transformation just the legs a wee bit different this morning
23:19but a couple of days a little bit up to speed this is just phase one we've still got a massive phase two
23:25to do can't slow down because if we slow down it's not going to happen in four weeks time we go again
23:32and we release another new bit of space and then another four weeks after that we'll then release full
23:38space it always is a challenge but this needs to be bang on for christmas
23:46hello good morning back in london having been forced to abandon his italian american concept
23:52harry is hoping katherine will approve his new panettone recipe our latest recipe is a dark chocolate
23:59and cherry panettone which i absolutely love simpler we're getting better ingredients in there so
24:04i think we've made the right decision here we go again here we go again katherine but for me this
24:10is really my crunch point to make sure that katherine loves this product so cherry and chocolate it's
24:15all about the cherries and the chocolate great they're quite big cherries aren't they yeah they're
24:19lovely big cherries and they are holding within the panettone yeah i'll be honest i'm slightly obsessed
24:24with panettone it's the highlight of my christmas it smells so good so i'm looking for something
24:29obviously high quality but the product and the ingredients all need to work in harmony when i hit
24:36a cherry it's delicious but the fact that you can only see three on that slice and three on that
24:42slice you would be you know you'd be disappointed i think i think the key thing for me if it's you know
24:48chocolate and cherry it needs to have a lot more cherry in it absolutely katherine great love it look
24:54forward to seeing it excellent today's been a great step forward katherine really loved the concept
25:00she just wanted more cherry so we get the best product
25:05also hoping for a hit christmas product is cheese technologist amy so here we go who's returned with
25:12samples of her unusual black garlic cheese now she must pitch the product back to the team if i find a
25:19cheese that i love then there's always a kind of nervous moment when i show it to chris and see
25:24will they love it as much as i do what lovely cheese have you got to show me here chris is a kind
25:30of specialist cheese buyer and he would be the one that would agree right this is the amount we're going
25:35to order uh this is the horse we're going to back as the real success for christmas so this is the black
25:41garlic cheese black garlic is very niche for the average british consumer not many of them would have
25:47heard about black garlic chris is an absolute wizard when it comes to cheese i don't know what
25:52he's going to think it might be a bit out there it might be a bit of an unusual ingredient see what
25:57you think um that is scrumptious that is really moorish i'm really surprised by the taste it really does
26:11deliver some fantastic flavor well this is great news i think my big concern is visually it's not
26:18quite the right standard or the quality that we're looking for we need far more black garlic and a better
26:26distribution because that would be disappointing and we want that wow factor for christmas i think
26:31you're absolutely right i just don't know what's possible but we can ask if pedro can't improve on
26:38this i'm not sure that i'd be happy to launch it for this christmas he thought it was delicious but
26:44he is quite concerned about the visual which is a bit of a curveball it does leave us with a bit of a
26:50technical problem to fix in not very much time
26:58100 miles away in northampton rasheen is on a mission to salvage her yorkshire pudding wrap
27:04in time for christmas so today i'm at the supplier because we're going to be having our first trial
27:10of the yorkshire pudding wrap it's really important that this product is handled delicately all throughout
27:15the process because it's so fragile that if any cracks form along the way that means the filling is
27:20going to seep out and the customer is going to have a sloppy mess so basically this is the raw material
27:27you'll see when i roll it that it it is it is holding but it is it is delicate so we're just
27:32going to have to kind of see is there anything that the team have been looking at to improve that
27:37yeah so we've been looking at if there's any way of kind of um warming the the yorkshire pudding
27:41wrap-up ahead of coming to the line and that's really helped mitigate some of the cracking can we
27:45go and have a little look at that now there's been quite a lot of work done down the line just
27:49making sure that kind of the positioning of each component is really bob on there's the beef going on
27:55yeah i'm a little bit concerned about this one i think you can see it's cracked at the top and then
27:59it's split down there and that's before the team have rolled it yeah obviously when that product's
28:04rolled it's going to be cracked and not kind of acceptable so that'll have to go in the bin i think
28:08yeah let's see if this one cracks when it rolls no crack in there yeah it's quite good yeah no crack
28:14oh so then this one we can see the crack just there yeah so i think that maybe it's one of the
28:20batches where we didn't do the um warming up the the yorkshire pudding wraps prior to coming down the
28:25line it is making me a little bit nervous so we're still seeing things like this the second that
28:29that's cooked in one of our cafes all of the filling will come out and we'll have roast dinner
28:34down a customer and we can absolutely not have that it's going to be a bit touch and go there's
28:39some visible cracks especially when the colleagues are wrapping the wrap launch day is looming and we're
28:45we're running out of time so i really hope that we get this product nailed
28:57we're just going to taste them on a bit of turkey christmas preparations are in full swing in every
29:02corner of mns this is our four chili at the london support center matt's testing out heat levels for his
29:09hot maple turkey yeah wow too far i think alice is still trying to perfect the new colin cracker
29:18concept it's like sanders workshop we focus more on the jagged edge so we've just captured that in
29:24these different molds to see what you think and back in spain technologist amy is hoping her supplier
29:30has been able to add more black garlic into her festive cheese today does feel like a make or break day
29:37i think chris was very clear that if we can't improve the visual that that product's just not
29:42right for this christmas pedro's taking amy onto the factory floor i'm excited to see what's happened
29:48are you i am to reveal his new and improved machine that pierces black garlic paste into the cheese
29:56so how does this machine differ from the process that you had before the last machine that i used to
30:02have was very manual it was like a pistol just injecting in the cheese and now it is automatic
30:10how many needles are used in this so we are we are using four needles four needles okay we used to have
30:17only one okay perfect for maximum garlic yes maximum garlic as possible it's going to be a really fine
30:25balance between getting that visual right and actually putting too much black garlic in and then
30:31you lose that lovely rounded milky sheep's milk flavor of the cheese it definitely smells stronger
30:37so i will let's see wow that looks amazing that's different right oh my gosh i mean look at where we
30:45were yeah like hardly anything it looks as you can see all the veins and it's very well distributed that
30:53visual is beautiful it's really dramatic uh hopefully it's not too garlicky gosh
31:05that is lovely kind of sweet and caramelly but with this real kind of moorish savory note i was
31:12really worried it was going to be too garlicky but i think it's a really really spot on i think you've
31:18absolutely nailed it thank you so much i think pedro's done an amazing job but i am a bit nervous
31:24as to how customers are going to take to it because i think it looks really different to anything else
31:29that's on the market in the uk i really back this product will all of our customers agree i don't know
31:39back in the uk sarah is cooking up the latest samples of her fish and chip bites
31:44they look good yeah happy with these with new and improved shoestring fries baked into the batter
31:51and a mushy pea sauce on top they've colored up nicely all the way around exactly what we're aiming
31:56for now it's time to get the second opinion the british public absolutely love fish and chips so i'm
32:03hoping they really like our interpretation of it it's a little bit different to quite how you'd normally eat
32:08it let's go feed some customers she's hoping that lunchtime customers are enthusiastic about her
32:15twist on a british classic let's try a sample would you like to try a sample yeah absolutely
32:22what we've done is we've put the little mini chips in the batter around the fish lovely and then it
32:26comes with a pea and mint crush and little chip forks do you do i take it in one bite or can i take it
32:31depends how brave you are i'm gonna go all in one yeah yeah yeah yeah it is delicious oh great news i mean
32:38the butter is amazing pretty carby i would consider buying it if it was less potato more fish the
32:45batter could be a little bit crispier maybe that's my only okay that's good to say the batter is a
32:49little bit potatoey it's not really what i'm used to on a on a fish and chip yeah it is different to
32:55put the chips in the batter which is giving you the potatoey flavor appreciate it that's where that
32:59kind of a surprise i probably prefer my fish and my chips to be separate oh that's gorgeous that is
33:08really nice they've turned the page mate they've turned the page they've created something completely
33:12extraordinary which is blowing it out the water it's definitely nerve-wracking getting feedback
33:17from customers because you just never quite know how it's going to go down we've got a few little
33:21things that they've fed back on around the kind of crispiness of the batter we can definitely just
33:24make sure we fine-tune the cooking instructions but um overall i'm really happy i think it's going
33:29to be a hit 900 miles away in northern italy it's crunch time for harry's dark chocolate and cherry
33:41panettone today i'm here to review production of our panettone to check that translation from kitchen
33:49into factory having increased the number of cherries in the panettone the full order of over 30 000 is
33:56now being baked just a few weeks before launch leaving no room for error time is always ticking
34:03so we're we're baking at the last moment to make sure we've got the freshest product for our customers
34:08but if the product's not right it's not going to launch and harry's not flying solo boss katherine
34:13has joined to approve the crucial product for herself panettones are incredibly important our
34:20customers absolutely love them it's made to an artisan method over 56 hours but things can go wrong
34:29they're so soft isn't it yeah so soft fresh out of the oven the panettone's must pass inspection can we
34:35take a closer look at these against the quality sheets yes we're looking for 15.5 there we go it
34:47is spot on 15 and a half centimeters and then across the top you expect the four cuts we've got that
34:54perfect cross we've got that beautiful doming and we've got fruits protruding from the top and then
34:59all importantly that color is spot on so can we say we did a good job thank you so then the panettones
35:08are left to call with a metal spikes we can grab the cake and put upside down and we wait for eight
35:15hours to keep the shape and the height of the product perfect yeah so it needs time and respect yes it's
35:22something that our mothers and grandmothers have done in the past next harry and katherine must check
35:29the factory version lives up to the sample they previously signed off it's really important that
35:35from kitchen to factory they taste and look the same that is what we've tried that's what we've
35:41fallen in love with so this is our kitchen sample there we go the factory sample now for the moment of
35:49truth let's cut straight into the factory sample
35:59i much prefer the um sample that we've just made in the factory i think you get that lovely flavor
36:08of dark chocolate you're actually getting more chocolate because it's stretched so it's got a
36:12higher distribution cherries are popping through and getting all those delicious deep buttery dairy
36:18aromas every single year my heart is in my mouth as we cut into the first panettone because if it
36:24hasn't got that beautiful elongated crumb that is really silky and pillowy and soft i'm disappointed
36:32and he's cracked it there's been a lot of pressure mounting on this visit it's been mumps in aidation
36:38from when we first briefed italian american concepts we're nearly at the end when the products
36:45are going to go on shelf and i'm really excited hoping to replicate harry's success is cheese
36:57technologist amy she's at the oxford street store in central london to find out what shoppers make of
37:03her new black garlic cheese so today is the first time that we've had an opportunity to try it with
37:09our customers um so it's a it's a really important day particularly as it's quite an innovative cheese
37:14it's something that not everybody might have tried before so i i am a little bit nervous to see what
37:19people think absolutely
37:31it's november and christmas is fast approaching very nice are you hungry always always matt's hot
37:38maple turkey glaze has been signed off just a little bit of warmth but then the caramelization
37:46on both the skin and the bacon i think that works really well yeah well done amazing the social media
37:53team are working on a party food campaign just a gay man and his mother the best kind of party there
37:58is would you like to try some cheese and at the ms oxford street store cheese technologist amy is
38:04testing out her new black garlic cheese on customers one of my first jobs was working in a
38:11in a food hall would you like to try some cheese i did a lot of tasting with customers please help
38:15yourself yeah i hope people are are up for trying it it's a black garlic cheese from spain okay okay
38:22fair enough or enough do you like to try some cheese it's a very new concept for us so we're really
38:26interested to hear what what you think does it have to be so um salty it's creamy yes it's a nice
38:33it's smooth yeah i really like it yeah you definitely taste the garlic delicious some people
38:38that are off put by cheese might not necessarily like the look of that i'd say i like the different
38:43color in it i think it'd be really nice like you know after dinner yes it's a decent wine everything's
38:48better with a decent wine it's quite sweet yeah you can taste the garlic yeah really nice i think
38:53they'll go nice with a um chutney would you like to try some cheese i think the risk has absolutely
38:59paid off we always want to develop new and innovative products and i think based on today
39:03i feel pretty optimistic about how it's going to go and i think people seem really really up for
39:08experimenting on their christmas cheese board and giving it a go
39:11any hot drinks for you christmas has arrived in the m&s cafe and product developer rasheen is at the
39:25brooklyn store in surrey for the launch of her yorkshire pudding wrap so exciting to see it in the
39:31flesh the last time i saw the product it was in the factory and we kept seeing some cracking of the wrap
39:37so it's going to be really nerve-wracking for me once those orders start coming in if the wraps
39:41crack whilst they're being cooked it will cause quality issues we just can't have that in our cafes
39:48if a customer has a negative experience they may not return to the cafe and that is not what we want
39:53can we get two of these and i have a skinny latte
39:58yes there's some people starting to order it now which is really exciting so let's see how it comes out of
40:04the oven from what i can see there's definitely no cracking so that is a huge success it's a very
40:13big sigh of relief right now how are you holding that it is really good i'm absolutely loving it did
40:23try at first to eat with my hands but it wasn't working so knife and fork is fine the beef was very
40:28good and the gravy very tasty but the uh yorkshire pudding was not a yorkshire pudding as i know it
40:35i think it was just a bit too crisp not too sloppy not too messy um i definitely wouldn't eat it on
40:40a first date but um it was it worked i'm really pleased with how today's gone we hit nearly 50 sales
40:49of the yorkshire pudding wrap so this is only day one so let's see how it performs through the rest of the
40:53festive period meanwhile colin the caterpillar is still waiting for his festive makeover to be
41:03finalized i'm very nervous to see colin today because we have had loads of teething problems
41:08with the cracker shape last time we were here chocolate thickness was too clunky so fingers
41:12crossed it probably looks like a cracker should we go for medium or large alice and colleague natalie
41:19are going on to the factory floor to see if the supplier has been able to fix the chocolate cracker
41:24design the main thing is that we need customers to look at this cake and think that is a cracker
41:28if colin's not right today there really will be no colin at christmas so it's a really big day
41:33so this is our new automation line that we've just had installed we've gone from hand piped um
41:39labor to now automated so it's all done by robot you can just see the more precision it's more neater
41:45it's so precise excited to see the chocolate in there they look so shiny yeah and that glossiness
41:51perfect that definitely looks like a cracker yeah the finish on it as well is just so beautiful it's
41:58so precise like something from willy wonka so his face is being put on here yeah then we have someone
42:04placing the pop and then we've got the cracker placements making sure they're really placed
42:09straight like we wanted the chocolate is looking so much better this is the finished collard yeah
42:16and he looks incredible he looks amazing now he's on the board it just pops everything yeah of course
42:22there's the red board yeah yeah should we go and taste it absolutely let's go
42:30there was a nice crunch there yeah you can really see that layer of the popping candy as well
42:36there we go we all want to try a bit of the pop first it's got that really lovely like nostalgic
42:42kind of like kiddie like really really fun i can hear it it's really coming out it's just still going
42:47cracked it i'm so happy to see colin in all of his glory today he looks exactly like a cracker i feel
42:55so relieved because every single christmas we up the stakes and it is increasingly difficult because we
43:00always want to blow our customers away with new concepts and i'm confident that this christmas
43:05colin is the best column we've ever done
43:12it's 5am in northern ireland and after months of hard work and 12 million pounds of investment
43:19good morning are you all okay the krogavin store is finally ready to fully reopen in time for christmas
43:27nine o'clock this morning we're going to open the shop as full space ready for our customers
43:32ash is just waiting on one last minute stock delivery come on where are you hopefully it
43:38comes on time if it doesn't arrive then we are in a bit of trouble because we open the shop with
43:43some empty shelves looks like it's just arrived ben can we get it tipped for me please
43:48ten past five in the morning so let's get him in
43:55are you okay with that
44:00our krogavin customers i've been asking for this for the past probably 14 to 15 months
44:06do you have any more christmas bags for them to get this full store today it's going to be brilliant
44:11i just can't wait to see their faces each christmas got busier and busier to the point where you're
44:15shoulder to shoulder with customers it was hard to get packing so i'm excited to see this christmas
44:21we'll have a bit more room you can't have enough space and it'll be great now with the wider aisles
44:27i think it's all very exciting we have done it and i am over the new it looks fantastic um really really
44:37it's quarter to nine we're going to cut the ribbon shortly and i've got a choir singing outside my shop
44:50never would have thought that this would happen it's amazing
44:53good morning good morning i see you okay good morning you okay it's just a real good buzz to
45:07the store and especially when you live in the area i think that this new bigger store is great so much
45:12more open and there's so much more variety of different things and you're all ready for christmas
45:17the new store looks far more modern it looks so much more sleek i feel like it really did need
45:21the modernization and i think it came at a very good time in the lead up to christmas it's phenomenal
45:27i'm walking around now i'm talking to every single customer and all i get is positive vibes which is
45:32absolutely amazing and i think every customer and every colleague is going to enjoy the journey going
45:36forward over the next few weeks so yeah this is an absolutely outstanding moment for all of us
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