If there’s one thing Brits love, it’s a new product launch at Marks & Spencer.
The retailer has been dropping some great stuff lately, but there’s one item that’s been causing a real stir with shoppers.
In August, M&S released a £2.50 Custard Cream Spread, which they described as a ‘sweet, smooth, vanilla-flavoured spread studded with crunchy biscuit pieces’.
Like most products in the Foodhall, it’s flying off the shelves, and people are desperate to get their hands on it.
But in the last few days, the spread has become embroiled in a ‘custard cream controversy’ on social media – and thousands of people have shared their two cents.
As is often the way, it all started with an innocent photo being shared on the internet…
Jordan Grey, the chap behind postal cake business Cakes Contour, uploaded a picture of himself buying two trays of the custard cream spread from M&S.
The 29-year-old, from Newcastle upon Tyne, planned to use the spread in a delectable-looking Custard Cream Millionaires Shortbread, but little did he know, the photo would spark outrage.
This post proved incredibly divisive on Facebook and Instagram, as some were gobsmacked that he’d had the audacity to purchase 11 jars, when others couldn’t even get one.
‘That’s why nobody else can get any,’ wrote one disgruntled social media user.
‘People like you keep buying all the jars,’ shared another.
While someone else asked: ‘You’re a baker, why can’t you make the spread yourself?’
Others demanded to know why the business was sourcing ingredients in bulk from a supermarket, instead of a wholesaler, and some thought M&S should impose strict limits on the product to stop people clearing the shelves.
Not everyone was bothered by Jordan’s purchase, though.
Many pointed out that there were no rules prohibiting him from buying as many jars as he’d like, and that it didn’t really matter as the product isn’t an ‘essential’ item, like toilet paper.
‘You do you ultimately. It’s a shop and if there’s no max purchase on the item then fine,’ an Instagram user replied.
Jordan, 29, watched the ‘public inquiry into his shopping trolley’ play out online in disbelief, as thousands of notifications lit up his phone.
‘If I hadn’t posted about buying the jars, nobody would have known what was in my shopping trolley,’ he tells Metro.
‘We’re simply a small business buying an ingredient to make a product our customers want, and the fact that it’s turned into such a talking point has been completely unexpected.’
Despite the debate, he’s continued to share a few more custard cream-themed posts since going viral, and admits he can’t stop himself from getting a little sassy with some of the naysayers.
‘I think the funniest part is that this is all over a jar of spread, not an essential item that people need to live.
‘It was never that serious, but I’ll admit I do enjoy winding people up about it a little.’
The baker, who runs Cakes Contour with his fiancé Nathan, says he’s purchased about 30 jars of the spread in total so far, and has never cleared out an entire shelf of the stuff.
‘A lot of people seem to think I’m personally responsible for the spread being sold out in every M&S, which is quite a lot of responsibility for one small bakery!
‘I always leave at least half of the available stock for other shoppers, and visit different stores rather than clearing out one shop.’
As for whether he could start whipping up his own version of the spread, the answer is simple: He could, but he doesn’t want to.
‘I could do it easily, but that misses the point,’ he explains.
‘The novelty of using a new, recognisable M&S product is part of what makes our Custard Cream Millionaires Shortbread appealing to customers.
‘It’s not about whether I’m capable of making a spread from scratch; it’s understanding what gets people excited about a product and what they actually want to buy.
‘As a small business, we have to make commercial decisions based on customer demand, and this particular ingredient has helped generate interest in a slice that might not otherwise have attracted the same attention.’
He continues: ‘It’s exclusive to M&S, so we can’t simply order it through our usual wholesalers.’
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Currently M&S doesn’t have any rules or restrictions in place for buying the Custard Cream Spread, but Jordan says if they did, he would ‘respect it’.
‘If M&S introduced a limit tomorrow, we’d follow it and plan accordingly. If we didn’t have the spread available at our unit, we simply wouldn’t sell that slice until we could make more,’ he adds.
‘Ultimately, we’re just trying to bake lovely things, keep our customers happy and have a bit of fun along the way.’
Metro asked M&S if they planned to introduce a limit on the number of jars customers can buy, but they did not confirm.
However, an M&S Food spokesperson did share: ‘Our Custard Cream Spread has been such a hit with customers, and we have loved seeing the ways people are enjoying it, from spreading it on toast and pancakes to using it in baking and desserts.’
They added that those struggling to find a jar can check the M&S Food Digital Catalogue to find their local Foodhall where it’s stocked.
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