111 years ago as waite rose & taylor 1 1908 ; 107 years ago as waitrose ltd. founder wallace waite arthur rose david taylor 2 headquarters bracknell berkshire united kingdom number of locations 350 3 area served great britain 4 key people rob collins managing director tom athron finance director products food services supermarkets online shopping revenue 5 400.4 million 5 operating income 173.5 million 5 net income 123.3 million owner john lewis partnership number of employees 91 000 jlp 3 parent john lewis partnership website www.waitrose.com christmas 2015 display at waitrose wharf road king s cross . waitrose enfield . the waitrose branch in barry the waitrose branch in cheadle hulme built in 2007 was waitrose s first purpose built retail outlet in northern england the waitrose branch in marlborough high street the waitrose branch in wallingford waitrose is a chain of british supermarkets which forms the food retail division of britain s largest employee owned retailer the john lewis partnership . its head office is located in bracknell berkshire england . 6 as of february 2015 waitrose has 350 branches across the united kingdom 3 including 30 little waitrose convenience stores and a 5.1 % share of the market making it the sixth largest grocery retailer in the uk . 7 waitrose has been described by such newspapers as the telegraph and the guardian as having an upmarket reputation although managing director mark price suggests this is not the case when its prices are compared to those of rival tesco . 8 9 10 the company has a royal warrant to supply groceries wine and spirits to queen elizabeth ii 11 and as of 1 january 2011 to prince charles . 12 contents 1 history 2 brand and marketing 2.1 waitrose duchy organic 2.2 essential waitrose 2.3 waitrose 1 2.4 waitrose lovelife 2.5 heston from waitrose 2.6 mywaitrose loyalty card 2.7 price matching 2.8 waitrose food magazine 3 corporate practices 3.1 employment practices and benefits 3.2 uniform 4 stores 4.1 convenience stores and little waitrose 4.2 john lewis foodhall 4.3 waitrose food & home waitrose food fashion & home 4.4 welcome break 5 online presence 5.1 ocado 5.2 waitrose.com 6 market share 7 awards and acclaims 8 see also 9 references 10 external links history edit founded in 1904 by wallace waite arthur rose and david taylor waitrose began as a small grocery store waite rose & taylor in acton west london . 1 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 stores and 160 employees was taken over by the john lewis partnership . 1 in 1944 the partnership purchased the south essex grocery business schofield and martin which had 12 shops in its chain . 13 schofield and martin s southend high street store was converted into a self service store in 1951 becoming the first supermarket run by waitrose . the schofield and martin name was used until the 1960s when the stores were rebranded waitrose . 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 store s most southerly branch opened in truro cornwall . 14 in 1981 counter service was introduced for fresh meat fish and cheese and in 1983 waitrose became the first major supermarket chain to sell organic food . since 2000 waitrose has continued its expansion including purchasing stores from somerfield 15 morrisons 16 woolworths 17 the co operative group and sandpiper ci a move which saw the chain move into northern england and scotland for the first time . the firm signed a deal with alliance boots which allowed boots to operate branded pharmacies in waitrose stores and boots stores to sell waitrose food products . 18 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 . 19 in october 2011 waitrose opened a fulfilment centre in west london as part of its waitrose.com online delivery service . this allowed waitrose to offer an online service to customers in london something which had previously been restricted due to waitrose s commercial agreement with ocado . as of august 2016 waitrose has 350 stores across the uk . 3 brand and marketing edit the logo of waitrose prior to the re brand in 2003 the current waitrose logo was designed by monotype imaging and interbrand . 20 21 advertising for waitrose emphasises the chain s unique selling points . for example its differences in production processes emphasising the quality of products or the expertise of their partners staff . recent marketing has also attempted to portray the chain as more ethical than other supermarkets especially with regard to fairtrade produce . waitrose has sponsored reading f.c. since 2008 22 and the england cricket team for three years from 2013 2016 . 23 in march 2010 waitrose released a series of adverts in print online and on national television featuring celebrity chefs delia smith and heston blumenthal . a waitrose community matters charity token a waitrose promotional st all at headingley stadium during a 2014 test between england and sri lanka . waitrose duchy organic edit main article 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 prince charles 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 stores and dined with senior waitrose executives and their spouses . 24 in august 2010 the duchy range was relaunched with many new lines under the duchy originals from waitrose later waitrose duchy organic brand . 25 essential waitrose edit departing from earlier practice the chain rebranded their economy range of products as essential waitrose in 2009 . the marketing uses the tagline quality you d expect at prices you wouldn t . 1 600 new and existing products were rebranded with this name using simple white based packaging . some people poked fun at the range for selling products that aren t an essential such as diamond polish and champagne flute sets . 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 . 26 waitrose 1 edit in 2016 waitrose began introducing its newest food brand waitrose 1 a new premium market food brand . it offers the very best of waitrose and at launch it included 520 food items . 26 waitrose lovelife edit this is the healthy range of waitrose products where the ready meals are calorie counted and other foods such as fruits and vegetables get you discounts on them to promote healthy living . heston from waitrose edit heston from waitrose is another premium brand of waitrose supermarkets . they include products inspired or created by heston blumenthal . mywaitrose loyalty card edit in late 2011 the supermarket introduced its first loyalty card scheme mywaitrose . it differed from supermarket loyalty schemes like tesco clubcard and nectar giving cardholders access to exclusive competitions and offers instead of allowing them to collect points . 27 it later began to give cardholders 10 % off selected products as well as free hot drinks in store . 28 managing director mark price has said that this offer has made waitrose the second largest provider of coffee in the uk calling it a phenomenal response that showed schemes offering loyalty points to be meaningless . he told the daily telegraph giving free coffee or free newspapers is disruptive to the market but i think that is what customers want i don t think they want a point . i mean what is a point i think it s meaningless . it doesn t have the richness it doesn t have the affinity you can gauge if you engage with your customers in a different way . it is about what do consumers value today not what did they value historically . so green shield stamps or points were a response to what happened post war ... i just don t think that is where the world is now . 29 the daily telegraph also later reported that waitrose has faced complaints from disgruntled middle class shoppers who claim its free coffee offer is attracting the wrong kind of customer . 30 price matching edit in 2010 waitrose began a price guarantee matching prices of 1000 items with tesco . in 2012 it extended this campaign to 7000 items . 31 waitrose food magazine edit waitrose publishes a monthly magazine called waitrose food formerly waitrose kitchen magazine . this is free to card account holders and mywaitrose card members . in february 2015 waitrose kitchen magazine included an advertising pamphlet taste of israel submitted by the israeli government in which traditional arabic foods were referred to as israeli . the advert prompted a social media backlash against waitrose . 32 corporate practices edit waitrose donates a portion of its profits to a group of charities on a proportional basis whilst individual waitrose branches manage their own charitable donations and local decisions are made on which charities are to be supported . this is a system called community matters where customers are invited to choose to whom they want money to be donated . 33 the supermarket launched the waitrose foundation in 2005 providing funds for education worker facilities and health services among other things for fruit growers in south africa . this was expanded to ghana and kenya in 2009 . 34 employment practices and benefits edit main article john lewis partnership as part of the john lewis partnership all of waitrose s employees are assigned the title of partner co owners of the business . as such they receive certain benefits most notably the partnership bonus usually around 10 20 % of a partner s yearly salary in a lump sum paid in march the highest bonus percentage in recent years has been 20 % 35 . the annual partnership bonus for 2011 was 18 % for 2012 was 14 % for 2013 was 17 % and for 2014 the bonus was 15 % and the most recent bonus was 10 % in 2016 . after three months service partners receive a green discount card partner discount card which entitles them to 15 % discount in waitrose and 25 % in john lewis department stores on most goods and 12 % on electrical goods . citation needed partners are also given access to membership for the partnership s country houses and parks such as brownsea island and the odney club . in 2005 the business introduced a mystery shopper programme to score its branches on the service they provide . the mystery shopper grades the branch on its presentation and on the service the branch provides at its service counters checkouts wine department and shop floor . in more recent times however the unpopular mystery shopper programme is being phased out in favour of a customer feedback system called measuring the magic . customers are given a card which directs them to the waitrose experience 36 website . in return for grading various areas of their shopping experience customers are entered into a monthly 500 prize draw . the new system hopes to give feedback tailored to each instance of customer partner contact instead of being based on strict criteria . the employee