Marks & Spencer has announced the closure of 11 cafes located within its smaller food shops as part of a strategic reorganization of its store network. The company revealed that this move is aimed at making room for more popular food items, emphasizing that no staff positions will be lost as a result of these closures. The impacted employees will be reassigned to other roles within the stores. These cafe closures will impact less than 4% of the total 316 food shops operated by the retailer.
A spokesperson from Marks & Spencer stated that the decision to close the cafes is aligned with the company’s efforts to modernize its food business and offer a wider range of M&S Food products to a larger customer base. As part of this transformation, the company is redirecting its focus towards opening new coffee shops that will serve high-quality food and fairtrade coffee prepared by skilled baristas, with a recent example being the new coffee shop in Bristol Cabot Circus store.
In a broader context, the cafe closures are part of a comprehensive £300 million investment and store repositioning initiative that aims to expand the presence of M&S food halls. This strategy includes converting several full-line stores into dedicated food outlets and enhancing the operations of existing food-only stores to cater to a growing customer demand.
Marks & Spencer has outlined plans to increase its number of food stores to around 420 by the end of 2028. This expansion comes as the company continues its financial recovery following a significant cyberattack in April, which resulted in a temporary suspension of online orders for six weeks and an estimated cost of £300 million to address the breach.
Earlier this year, Marks & Spencer, along with other retailers like Co-op and Harrods, faced cybersecurity threats that compromised customer data and disrupted operations. The incident underscores the growing risk of ransomware attacks on UK retailers, with security experts noting a significant uptick in such attempts in recent months, particularly targeting the retail sector.