Marks & Spencer has topped up indulgence levels of its in-store bakery (ISB) offer by introducing a new range of premium cookies.
The launch of the Chunked N’ Loaded range has M&S claiming a high street first as the only UK retailer selling an ISB cookie that’s both filled and topped.
Available in three flavours – Chocolate & Hazelnut, Raspberry Cheesecake, and Pistachio – the cookies (rsp: £2 each) are crafted from an all-butter recipe using Wildfarmed flour, then baked and hand-finished in store daily.
The Chocolate & Hazelnut Cookie features chocolate flavoured dough with nibbed hazelnuts and dark chocolate chips, filled with a gooey chocolate and hazelnut filling, and topped with a milk chocolate drizzle and chopped roasted hazelnuts.
The Raspberry Cheesecake Cookie has all-butter cookie dough with white chocolate chips, loaded with a creamy raspberry cheesecake filling, and topped with a white chocolate drizzle and freeze-dried raspberries.
Tapping into the flavour of the year, the Pistachio Cookie comprises white chocolate chip and nibbed pistachio cookie dough flavoured with Sicilian lemon oil, filled with pistachio butter and cream cheese filling, hand finished with white chocolate drizzle and crushed pistachios.
M&S noted that the new range follows the success of its limited-edition Speckled Egg Cookies that “sent social media wild” earlier this year. In its busiest week over Easter, the retailer sold 142,000 packs of five cookies across its estate.
Recent research on the out-of-home sweet bakery market, published by Nestlé Professional, found cookies to be leading the charge in both value and growth – they account for £328m in spend (+15.2% YOY) with volume sales improving by 9.4%.
Another seasonal sweet treat that went viral for M&S recently was the Red Diamond Strawberry & Creme Sandwich, which triggered a debate over whether it qualifies for zero-rated VAT treatment like other cold food items or it should be subject to the standard 20% VAT applied to confectionery.
Co-op, meanwhile, has also embraced the trending flavours of chocolate & hazelnut, raspberry, and pistachio in new sweet bakery items as part of its summer 2025 range.
M&S, Co-op and Harrods had been victims of cyberattacks a few months back that caused data breaches and huge disruptions to their operations and services. The National Crime Agency confirmed that the group of hackers responsible were arrested in the early hours of yesterday morning (10 July), including a 20-year-old female in Staffordshire and three males ages 17 to 19 in London and the West Midlands. M&S said some of its IT systems would not be fully operational again until October or November, and estimated it cost them £300m in lost profits.
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