M&S to bring full food range to UAE: Find out where

Dubai: Al-Futtaim will open the largest Marks & Spencer food hall outside the UK at Dubai Festival City in December, the company announced on November 2.

Now shoppers could complete a weekly shopping list in one visit as the 15,327 sq ft (1,424 sq m) store will carry the full M&S Food range, a first outside Britain.

The shelves hold more than 3,500 core M&S products and 500 locally sourced lines. More than 200 UK suppliers and a network of local producers will supply produce, protein, grocery, bakery and meal solutions.

Fresh M&S flowers will make their international debut. The Middle East will also gets its first M&S Patisserie. A Fruit Butcher, sushi counter, rotisserie chicken station, coffee shop and pizza oven complete the line-up. Al-Futtaim also confirms hospitality concepts that M&S has not used before.

M&S food halls built their name on premium own-brand ready meals, bakery and chilled food. British staples such as crumpets, scones and Colin the Caterpillar sweets drive the loyalty. The Dubai format adds counters and cooked-to-order food beyond that packaged core.

By combining greater choice, fresh food, convenience, meal solutions and hospitality, the Foodhall is designed to make the quality and value associated with M&S Food relevant across more everyday shopping occasions.

Wassim Arabi, President of Retail at Al-Futtaim, says the store will set a new benchmark for food retail in the UAE.

"The launch of this new Foodhall is an important milestone in that journey, bringing an exciting, elevated food shopping experience to our customers. By combining M&S’s exceptional food and trusted quality with Al-Futtaim’s local market expertise and operational capabilities, we are setting a new benchmark for food retail in the UAE."

Mark Lemming, Managing Director of International at M&S, calls it a chance to introduce more UAE shoppers to the brand’s food quality and value.

“By bringing a broader range of M&S Food together under one roof, we can become a bigger part of our customers’ everyday lives, giving them more choice and more reasons to shop with us more often as we continue to grow our presence in the region,” Lemming said.

Al-Futtaim signed the M&S franchise in 1997. The first Dubai store opened in Deira in 1998. The partnership now spans nearly three decades.

Food has grown in steps. In 2007, M&S built its largest store outside the UK at Dubai Festival City Mall. A 2017 refit added an M&S Café, the brand’s first table-service dining option in the region. The first standalone M&S Food store in the Middle East opened at Dubai Marina Walk in 2017. Springs Souk followed in 2018.

M&S has also adapted to local demand. It launched its first modest fashion collection, and its own-brand halal ready meals are sold through Al-Futtaim in Dubai. The Dubai Hills Mall food hall became the first in the region to introduce self-checkout points.