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Fortnum & Mason facts for kids
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| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1707 |
| Founders | William Fortnum Hugh Mason |
| Headquarters | |
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Number of locations
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5 (2019) |
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Area served
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United Kingdom Hong Kong Worldwide (via stockists and online) |
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Key people
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Chairman: Kate Hobhouse CEO: Tom Athron |
| Products | Luxury goods |
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Number of employees
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708 (2016) |
| Parent | Wittington Investments Ltd |
Fortnum & Mason (colloquially often shortened to just Fortnum's) is an upmarket department store in London, England. The main store is located at 181 Piccadilly in the St James's area of London, where it was established in 1707 by William Fortnum and Hugh Mason. There are additional stores at The Royal Exchange, St Pancras railway station and Heathrow Airport in Greater London, at K11 Musea in Hong Kong, as well as various stockists worldwide. Fortnum & Mason is privately owned by Wittington Investments Limited.
Founded as a grocery store, Fortnum's reputation was built on supplying quality food, and it saw rapid growth throughout the Victorian era. Although Fortnum's developed into a department store, it continues to focus on stocking a variety of exotic and speciality foods, along with 'basic' provisions.
The main store has since opened several other departments, such as the gentlemen's department on the first floor. It also contains a tea shop and several restaurants.
History
William Fortnum was a footman in the household of Queen Anne. The royal family's insistence on having new candles every night resulted in large amounts of half-used wax, which Fortnum promptly resold. Fortnum also had a side business as a grocer. He convinced his landlord, Hugh Mason, to be his associate, and they founded the first Fortnum & Mason store in Mason's small shop at St James's Market in 1707. In 1761, William Fortnum's grandson Charles went into the service of Queen Charlotte, and the connection with the royal court led to an increase in business. Fortnum & Mason claims to have invented the Scotch egg, in 1738. The store began to stock speciality items, namely ready-to-eat luxury meals such as poultry or game served in aspic jelly.
During the Napoleonic Wars, the emporium supplied dried fruit, spices and other preserves to British officers. In the Victorian era, it was frequently called upon to provide food for prestigious court functions. Queen Victoria sent shipments of Fortnum & Mason's concentrated beef tea to Florence Nightingale's hospitals during the Crimean War.
Charles Drury Edward Fortnum (1820–1899), of the family, was a distinguished art collector and a Trustee of the British Museum, to which he donated his collection of Islamic ceramics.
In 1886, after having bought the entire stock of five cases of a new product made by H. J. Heinz, Fortnum & Mason became the first store in Britain to stock tins of baked beans.
The shop at 181–184 Piccadilly was rebuilt between 1926 and 1927 to a Neo-Georgian design by the architects Wimperis, Simpson and Guthrie. The building also incorporates 22–27 Duke Street and 42–45 Jermyn Street.
In April 1951, the Canadian businessman W. Garfield Weston acquired the store and became its chairman following a boardroom coup. In 1964, he commissioned a four-ton clock to be installed above the main entrance of the store as a tribute to its founders. Every hour, 4-foot-high (1.2 m) models of William Fortnum and Hugh Mason emerge and bow to each other, with chimes and 18th-century style music playing in the background. The chimes were incorporated into Jonathan Dove's orchestral adaptation of Zeb Soanes' children's book Gaspard's Foxtrot, which depicts the clock and its figures as illustrated by James Mayhew. Since Garfield Weston's death in 1978, the store has been run by two of his granddaughters, Jana Khayat and Kate Hobhouse. The Chief Executive Officer is Tom Athron, who joined the business in December 2020.
The store underwent a £24 million refurbishment in 2007 as part of its tercentenary celebrations.
In March 2012, Queen Elizabeth II, Camilla (then Duchess of Cornwall]]) and Catherine (then Duchess of Cambridge) made their first official joint visit to Fortnum & Mason. During this visit, they were each presented with their own personalised hampers. The Queen opened the Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon on the fourth floor.
In November 2013, the company's first additional store was opened at St Pancras International station. The retailer has since opened stores and restaurants at Heathrow Terminal 5 (in 2014) and at The Royal Exchange (in 2018).
Fortnum & Mason opened its first standalone store outside Britain in Dubai on 21 March 2014. This store closed on 9 July 2017.
On 4 April 2019, it was announced that Fortnum & Mason would open a Hong Kong store at K11 Musea in September 2019. The 7,000 square-foot space features a retail store and restaurant.
Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards
Fortnum & Mason runs an annual food and drinks awards scheme. According to the company's former CEO Ewan Venters, the awards recognise ‘the pinnacle of high achievement in food and drink across the media’. The awards celebrate writers, publishers, presenters, image-makers and personalities working in the food and drink industry.
The 2018 awards ceremony was hosted by Claudia Winkleman and winners included Nadiya Hussain, Nigel Slater and Jay Rayner.
Royal warrants
Fortnum & Mason holds two royal warrants, the first granted by Queen Elizabeth II as Grocers and Provisions Merchants, and the second by Charles, then Prince of Wales as Tea Merchants and Grocers.
Their first royal warrant was granted in 1910 by Queen Alexandra. Later Royal Warrants were granted to Fortnum & Mason by King George V, though Fortnum & Mason temporarily lost their warrant for his son, King George VI, in 1948, due to post war rationing of the time. The warrant for King George VI was restored in 1951.
Later, King George VI and his consort Queen Elizabeth, known as The Queen Mother after the death of King George VI in 1952, both granted Fortnum & Mason Royal Warrants.
Platinum Jubilee
In 2022, Fortnum & Mason was a sponsor of the Platinum Pudding Competition, as part of the official celebrations of the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II.
Fortnum & Mason was also one of sixteen partners of the Platinum Jubilee Pageant, held on 5 June 2022.
See also
In Spanish: Fortnum & Mason para niños
- Harrods
- Jenners