M&S food is making a further push into the functional foods space with the launch of a 13-product Brain Food range alongside its new YAY! Mushrooms drinks line. 

A major promotion for the dual launch began this week across TV, press and digital platforms. 

The new ranges are available in M&S Foodhalls and on Ocado. The M&S Brain Food range includes 13 lines, featuring six “brain health supporting nutrients” – omega 3, iron, iodine, folate, zinc, and vitamin B12 – which the retailer says people often lack in they diets.  The Brain Food criteria have been developed in partnership with the British Nutrition Foundation, while  The YAY! Mushrooms range has been created in partnership with Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and includes five new drinks featuring lion’s Mane and reishi. 

Sharry Cramond, marketing & loyalty director at M&S Food, said: “Insight, quality and innovation is at the heart of everything we do and these two new first to market own label ranges, M&S Brain Food and YAY! Mushrooms, are the perfect examples of when these three marry together. We’re seen as the leading retailer offering healthy choices and 80% of our customers say they are concerned about their cognitive/brain health, so it really made sense for us to introduce Brain Food to our Foodhalls. YAY! Mushrooms taps into our adventurous customers who love to try new things and also aims to open us up to new customers who may be familiar with lion’s mane but have not tried them in a delicious drink. The campaign brings to life the unique ‘only at M&S’ innovation, which is central to our marketing strategy as we have a complete ban on the generic.

“We’re absolutely obsessed by the quality of the products in our Foodhalls and that’s why we’ve partnered with industry experts to support our claims on both ranges.  This January, M&S truly is the home of health and we can’t wait to see what customers think of our exciting, tasty and beneficial new products.”

The Brain Food range includes energy balls and bars, breakfast cereals, salads and yoghurts, with pricing starting at £1 and rising to £5.75. The Yay! Mushrooms range