Marks and Spencer and the social history of food c. 1950 - 1980, with particular reference to the relationship between consumer behaviour and retailing strategies Josephine Freear Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds School of History April 2015 Intellectual Property and Publication Statements The candidate confirms that the work submitted is her own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. © 2015 The University of Leeds and Josephine Freear Acknowledgements I would like to dedicate this PhD thesis to the memory of Professor Katrina Honeyman. Katrina’s energy and enthusiasm for this project have been felt at every stage and spurred me on whenever I struggled to see the wood for the trees. Professor Malcolm Chase, Professor Richard Whiting and Professor John Chartres have been absolutely unwavering in their support, both academic and pastoral. Without their guidance, this thesis would not have been completed. I will always be grateful for the kindness and generosity of spirit they have shown me. Many thanks to Marks and Spencer who generously provided the studentship which allowed me to carry out this research. Thanks also to the fantastic archive team at the Marks and Spencer company archive and the staff at the head office who took the time to talk to me about their work. Most of all, thank you to my friends and family. You have put up with me, laughed with me, cried with me and made me endless cups of tea. I feel honoured to know such wonderful human beings and do not know how I will ever repay the patience and compassion you have shown me throughout the last few years. Thank you all so much. 1 Abstract This thesis uses a detailed study of the relationship between the retailing strategies of Marks and Spencer and consumer behaviour to examine wider changes in the history of food retail and consumption in Britain between 1950 and 1980. Using material from the Marks and Spencer company archive, it situates these traditional business history sources alongside primary material from a wide range of social, cultural and political and multi-disciplinary scholarship in order to contextualise the company’s experiences as a food retailer. The first half of the thesis explores the complexities of this relationship and investigates the ways in which the histories of consumption, retail and supply interacted during the twentieth century. The second half then uses this retailer-customer interface to identify patterns, trends and areas of change and continuity in consumer behaviour through the lens of Marks and Spencer’s retail strategies. This includes the development of the company’s hygienic food retail practices in the 1940s and its creation of the chilled ready meals sector in 1979. It finds that Marks and Spencer’s focus on the progressive dimensions of advances food technology allowed the company to redefine its relationship with its customers while building on its cultural role as a ‘national institution’. This technological emphasis then permeated the company’s product range through a series of innovations, first through a focus on hygiene, then by the diversification of its product range and finally through the packaged ready meal. Ultimately, it argues that Marks and Spencer was able to create a new relationship with food consumers and develop retail strategies which allowed the company to navigate and, to a certain extent, actively shape consumer preferences over this thirty year period. 2 Contents Acknowledgements 1 Abstract 2 Contents 3 List of figures 4 Abbreviations 5 Introduction 6 Chapter 1 - Mediating the market 27 Chapter 2 - Consumer history 68 Chapter 3 - Multiple food retailing 98 Chapter 4 - Hygienic practices 132 Chapter 5 - Introducing new tastes 165 Chapter 6 - Chilled ready meals case study 198 Conclusion 233 Bibliography 240 3 List of figures Figure 1 Page 26 Marks and Spencer company archive, Q/Q5/36/4, presentation to the Board by Mr A. Griffiths, ‘The Changing Role of Technology’, 20th October 1981, p. 7. Figure 2 Page 61 Marks and Spencer company archive, Q5/20/5, ‘Canned New Potatoes’, 14th March 1967, p. 2. Figure 3 Page 190 Marks and Spencer company archive, Q/Q5/8/2, Nathan Goldenberg, ‘Israel - Research projects’, 6th July 1982, appendix 1. Figure 4 Page 205 Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Family Food Datasets (December, 2013). Figure 5 Page 218 Office of National Statistics, ‘Employment rate of women by whether they have children and age of youngest child’, General Household Survey (London: HMSO, 1992). 4 Abbreviations AGM Annual General Meeting BLSA British Library Sound Archive Defra Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs FACC Food Additives and Contaminants Committee HMSO Her Majesty’s Stationery Office MAFF Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food MSCA Marks and Spencer company archive NFU National Farmers’ Union OED Oxford English Dictionary TNA The National Archives 5 Introduction Introduction Historians are prone to seeing revolutions everywhere and scholars of the history of consumption are no exception. From a ‘consumer revolution’ and ‘industrious revolution’ in eighteenth-century Britain to a ‘color revolution’ in twentieth-century America, charting the rapid pace of technological change and arguing for the transformational effect this had on the experiences of consumers and vice versa has proved to be a popular line of inquiry.1 The history of food consumption in the twentieth century is concerned with major changes in the ways in which food was produced, sold, purchased and eaten. However, what is most striking about the social history of food in Britain c. 1950 and 1980 are the remarkable continuities in both food-retailing strategies and in the behaviour and demands of consumers. This thesis explores the social history of food consumption by analysing primary material from the Marks and Spencer company archive alongside a wide array of social, cultural and political sources and multi-disciplinary scholarship. In doing so, it sheds light on a small but significant facet of both the British food industry and British social history: the relationship between a food retailer and their customers. It will be seen that the demands and behaviours of consumers underwent significant changes, the most notable of which was the emergence of convenience as a major motivational factor for food purchasing decisions. Ultimately, it finds that Marks and Spencer was able to create a new relationship with food consumers and develop retail strategies 1 Neil McKendrick, John Brewer and J.H. Plumb, The Birth of a Consumer Society: The Commercialization of Eighteenth-Century England (London: Europa, 1982); Jan De Vries, The industrious revolution: consumer behavior and the household economy, 1650 to the present (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008); Regina Lee Blaszczyk, The Color Revolution (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2012). 6 Introduction which allowed the company to navigate and, to a certain extent, actively shape consumer preferences over this thirty year period. It did so by focussing on the development of food technologies, beginning in 1949 with the publication of its ‘Hygienic Food Handling’ manual and culminating in its creation of the chilled ready meals sector in 1979. The periodization of this thesis is determined by these two key landmarks in the company’s history. The food retail practices of Marks and Spencer were established in the post-war period with the appointment of Nathan Goldenberg to the food department in 1948 and subsequent publication of the hygiene manual in 1949. The company developed a distinctive marketing strategy which set it apart from other food retailers, as it was not conducting formal market research nor engaging in extensive print or media advertising of its food business. Instead, it was successful in leveraging its involvement in food technologies in order to speak to customers and market the company in different ways, such as through the political sphere. This focus on technology was then applied to the company’s product range through a series of developments. The first area in which this was most clearly evident was the company’s work on hygienic food practices. It then applied this technological approach to the diversification of its food offering and, eventually, through the sale of pre-packaged chilled ready meals in 1979. This exploration of the interface between Marks and Spencer and its customers thus serves to illuminate the ways in which technological modernity penetrated into the practices of everyday life for British consumers by the 1980s. 7 Introduction The primary and secondary sources with which this thesis engages are inherently multi-disciplinary in scope. The issues and themes which will be addressed, such as the historical geographies of multiple retailing and social constructions of hygiene, are areas of research for which there is a diverse body of scholarship.2 The analytical framework of this project thus makes a virtue out of the richness of this material by utilising approaches which are not necessarily based in traditional historical scholarship. This includes adopting the ‘thick description’ approach, which originated in ethnographic studies of researchers such as Clifford Geertz in the 1970s, whereby social and cultural codes are viewed as embodied in the actions of individuals and organisations.3 Whilst drawing upon the wealth of material available in the Marks and Spencer company archive, this is not a straightforward business history. It uses the traditional business history sources of the company to explore the relationship between Marks and Spencer as a food retailer and their customers, in order to investigate the social history of food consumption and retail in Britain in the twentieth century.