UK | Marks & Spencer has launched its latest food-on-the-move innovation, the new Chocolate, Strawberry & Pistachio Creme Sandwich, made possible by a GBP 900k investment from long-term supplier partner Greencore in a dedicated nut production facility at its Northampton fortress factory.
The new sandwich, launched just in time for Wimbledon, brought together the best in-season British strawberries with a layer of Fairtrade dark chocolate sauce on one side and roasted pistachio crème on the other, all served on cocoa-enriched bread.
It followed the success of last year’s Red Diamond Strawberry & Creme Sandwich, which sold more than one million sandwiches in just five weeks, and demonstrated how M&S Food continues to protect the magic of standout product innovation while transforming the capability behind it.
The product is made by Greencore, M&S Food’s biggest producer of sandwiches and food-on-the-move, at its Northampton M&S 'fortress factory', a dedicated M&S facility supporting M&S’ growth ambitions in one of its most important categories.
In January 2026, Greencore opened a new dedicated nut production facility at the site to help bring M&S innovation to life following a GBP 900k supplier investment.
The facility has been designed to enable M&S food-on-the-move products containing nuts to be made safely, consistently and at scale, supporting both the launch of the Chocolate, Strawberry & Pistachio Creme Sandwich and recently launched Bang Bang Chicken Wrap.
The launch is a practical example of M&S Food’s transformation strategy in action: building long-term supplier partnerships, protecting differentiated capabilities through the 'M&S fortress factories' approach, and giving supplier partners the right contracts and confidence to invest in the capacity, quality and innovation needed to support future growth.
M&S and Greencore have also been exploring further development opportunities in food-on-the-move ranges where nut ingredients could be used to improve flavour, texture and innovation.
“Our long-term supplier partnerships are central to the transformation of M&S Food. They give us the confidence and capability to keep innovating at pace, while investing with us in the quality, consistency and scale our customers expect from us," said Alex Freudmann, Managing Director of M&S Food.
"Greencore’s dedicated nut production facility at Northampton is a great example of that partnership in action - creating new capability in one of our fortress factories and helping us bring distinctive, market-leading products like our Chocolate, Strawberry & Pistachio Creme Sandwich to customers.”
Dalton Philips, CEO of Greencore Group added that the new dedicated nut production facility at Greencore Northampton is a great example of what a genuine long-term partnership looks like in practice.
"We invested in the capability, M&S brought the product vision, and the result is something customers are really going to love. I am so proud of what we have delivered together.”
The new Chocolate, Strawberry & Pistachio Creme Sandwich is available in M&S Foodhalls from the 24th of June.
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