Waitrose is owned by the John Lewis Partnership, the UK's largest employee-owned business. Instead of external shareholders, the company is held in trust for its roughly 74,000 employees, known as "Partners," who share in the profits, benefits, and responsibilities. It operates as part of the same group as John Lewis department stores.
Waitrose and its related brands are owned by the John Lewis Partnership (JLP), which is itself owned by its "partners." "Employee" (partner) shares are held in trust by the Partnership—their shares cannot be sold by the individual partners.
The public limited company is owned by a trust on behalf of all its employees, known as Partners, who share the responsibilities and rewards of ownership. John Lewis has around 74,000 employees as of 2024.
John Lewis began trading over 150 years ago in 1864 on London's Oxford Street and is now the UK's largest employee-owned omnichannel retailer, offering thoughtfully curated home, fashion, beauty and technology products with expert Partner service at its heart.
GlobalData estimated that M&S grew its UK clothing market share from 4.9% in 2023 to 5.2% in 2024 while John Lewis's has remained flat at 1.6% since 2019.
People Who Shop At Waitrose | Michael McIntyre's Big Show
Where does Waitrose meat come from?
This means that our customers can shop with confidence knowing that when they buy fresh beef, it has come from a farm right here in the UK. At Waitrose, higher welfare means higher welfare and British means British.
Description: Primark is a multinational fast fashion retailer specialising in affordable clothing and beauty products. Owned by Associated British Foods, the company first opened as Penneys in Ireland in 1969.
Sharon White left as John Lewis Partnership Chair in early 2025 after a challenging tenure marked by the pandemic, cost-of-living crisis, and a tough retail environment, with her departure following a strategy review where she felt it was time for a smooth handover to a new leader for the next phase of transformation, despite critics citing her lack of retail experience and controversial decisions like exploring outside investment and closing stores.
The John Lewis Partnership — owner of John Lewis and Waitrose — has reported losses of £88 million for the first half of 2025, almost three times higher than the £30 million loss a year earlier.
The John Lewis Partnership has reported a substantial half-year loss, with figures revealing an £88m deficit. The employee-owned retail giant, which operates the John Lewis department stores and Waitrose supermarkets, attributed the setback to rising national insurance contributions and new packaging taxes.
Yes, Tesco is a British multinational company, headquartered in the UK, founded in London, and remains a British-owned entity, although as a publicly traded company (Tesco PLC), its shares are owned by a wide range of global shareholders, including large investment firms like Blackrock.
For over 30 years, the Baker family has proudly supplied Waitrose with higher welfare pork. A visit to one of their East Anglian farms makes it clear why their approach stands out. Living in the open air, where they can dig about and wallow in mud as they please, their pigs are very obviously happy.
Where we source our beef. All M&S beef is 100% British and traceable back to the farm and animal it came from. Our trusted farmers provide us with perfectly marbled, top-quality beef from the best breeds, while maintaining our high animal welfare standards.
The poshest supermarket in the UK is generally considered to be Waitrose, known for premium products, quality, and organic options, followed closely by Marks & Spencer (M&S) for its food halls and prepared meals, while luxury food halls like Fortnum & Mason and Harrods offer an even higher-end, but less typical, grocery experience, with regional favorite Booths in the North also considered very high-end.
Marks & Spencer is one of the last bastions of middle-class Britishness. Long before the department store gained a following for its Percy Pig sweets and canned gin and tonics, it was an institution as British as the royal family, tea and scones, and complaining about the weather.
John Lewis, the iconic civil rights leader and Congressman, was a deeply faithful Christian and an ordained Baptist minister whose activism was rooted in his belief in Christian love and the social gospel, viewing nonviolence as love in action to create justice and equality. His faith drove his commitment to "good trouble," seeing ministry extending beyond church walls into the political arena to challenge injustice.
Elijah Cummings. Elijah Eugene Cummings (January 18, 1951 – October 17, 2019) was an American politician and lawyer who served in the United States House of Representatives for Maryland's 7th congressional district from 1996 until his death in 2019, when he was succeeded by his predecessor Kweisi Mfume.
