Not just hospital meals... M&S in talks with NHS to open 20 Simply Food stores near wards

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 9:46 AM on 16th November 2009

M&S plans to open 20 hospital shops within five years

Hospital patients will soon have an alternative to their bedside meals - a selection of Marks & Spencer dinners.

The supermarket chain plans to open 20 Simply Food franchises at hospitals around the UK in the next five years to provide a choice of meals for patients, staff and visitors.

Chairman Sir Stuart Rose said M&S wants to link up with the NHS across the UK following a trial scheme which has been running in London for eight months.

Tony Keating, chief executive of retailer's franchise partner SSP UK, confirmed he was in discussions with health trusts and said the next two hospital shops would open at London's St Thomas's and the Royal Berkshire in Reading.

He said that sales at the first M&S store at St George's Hospital, Tooting, had exceeded expectations.

He said: 'As a result we are now looking at the hospital market closely because it is an area we expect to grow strongly in.

'I think the stores will be successful because they will appeal to busy staff who work shifts and want good quality food at reasonable prices.

'Also, patients and visitors can buy food to take back to the wards.'

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Mr Keating said he was confident that the model would prove successful as hospital shoppers tended to have more time on their hands and were likely to pay more repeat visits than commuters.

The hospital roll-out may give an alternative to patients who are dissatisfied with hospital canteen food

'We have 33 rail station stores and are at a stage where we are approaching the end of our roll-out.

'In terms of the hospital market, we have the scope to really grow.'

M&S has expanded its growth with 171 shops at railway stations, airports and motorway service areas.

Mr Keating said that the hospital market was not likely to be as lucrative as the M&S rail stations and airport franchises.

The Tooting store currently attracts three million potential customers a year - a fraction of the 125million who could shop at M&S's store at Waterloo Station.