Waitrose Limited, trading as Waitrose & Partners, is a brand of British supermarkets, founded in 1904 as Waite, Rose & Taylor, later shortened to Waitrose. It was acquired in 1937 by employee-owned retailer John Lewis Partnership, which still sells groceries under the brand. Its head offices is located in Bracknell.
As at April 2023, Waitrose & Partners has 329 shops across Great Britain and the Channel Islands, including 65 "little Waitrose" convenience shops, and a 5.1% share of the grocery market, making the company the twelfth-largest retailer of groceries in the UK. They also export products to 52 countries and have locations in the Middle East.
The chain has been described by The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian as having an "upmarket" reputation, although former managing director Mark Price suggested prices are competitive to Tesco, a mid-market chain. The company also had a royal warrant to supply groceries, wine, and spirits to King Charles III.
History
Founded in 1904 by Wallace Waite, Arthur Rose and David Taylor, Waitrose & Partners began as a small grocery, Waite, Rose & Taylor, in Acton, West London. In 1908, two years after David Taylor had left the business, the name "Waitrose", from the remaining founders' names, was adopted. In 1937, the company, consisting of ten shops and 160 employees, was taken over by the John Lewis Partnership. In 1944, the partnership purchased the South Essex grocery business Schofield and Martin, which had 12 shops in its chain.
In 1955, the chain opened its first Waitrose supermarket in Streatham, London, and continued to expand throughout London and the South East of England during the 1960s. In the 1970s, Waitrose opened branches in Hampshire, Bedfordshire, Essex and Cambridgeshire. On 16 June 2016 the shop's most southerly branch opened in Truro, Cornwall.
In the early 21st century, Waitrose continued its expansion, which included purchasing shops from Somerfield, Morrisons and Woolworths.
In 2009 the firm signed a deal with Alliance Boots which allowed Boots to operate branded pharmacies in Waitrose shops and Boots shops to sell Waitrose food products. The partnership between the companies ended in 2012 having been deemed unsuccessful, which led to Boots replacing Waitrose products with items from Irish retailer Musgrave's SuperValu chain.
Profitability issues at the end of the decade resulted in John Lewis announcing the closure of five Waitrose shops in 2018 and the sale of a further five Waitrose shops to other retailers in 2019.
Brand and marketing
Waitrose sponsored Reading Football Club from 2008 to 2015, and the England cricket team for three years from 2013 to 2016.
In March 2010, Waitrose released a series of adverts, in print, online, and on national television, featuring celebrity chefs Delia Smith and Heston Blumenthal.
Waitrose Duchy Organic
In 1983 Waitrose became the first major supermarket chain to sell organic food, and by 2008 it had an 18% share of the organic food market. In September 2009, Duchy Originals, the struggling organic food business started by King Charles III was rescued by Waitrose, which agreed to an exclusive deal to stock the range, and to pay a small fee to his charity. In return, Prince Charles visited Waitrose shops and dined with senior Waitrose executives and their spouses. In August 2010, the Duchy range was relaunched with many new lines under the Duchy Originals from Waitrose (later Waitrose Duchy Organic) brand.
Product ranges
Essential Waitrose: Aware that Waitrose risked being seen as a food retailer for special occasions rather than everyday shopping, the chain launched its value range of products as "essential Waitrose" in March 2009. The marketing used the tagline: "Quality you'd expect at prices you wouldn't". 1,400 products were branded with this name using simple white-based packaging. Some people poked fun at the range for selling products that are not essential, such as ratatouille Provençal and limoncello desserts. Nevertheless, the range was highly successful. By 2016 it had over 2,000 items and £1.1 billion annual sales, making it one of only five food and drink brands in Britain worth over £1 billion. No 1 Waitrose is a range of around 650 premium lines with grey packaging. Cooks Ingredients are spices, herbs and related products with colourful packaging. Heston for Waitrose is a range of prepared foods such as pies and cakes developed by celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal.