The high street has finally noticed
According to the latest Bakery Info roundup, Caffè Nero, Costa, M&S Café, Pret and Starbucks are all running Marmite-based toasties this autumn. Not as a fringe special at one branch, but as proper autumn menu items printed on the boards. Five of the biggest names on the high street, all in the same season.
This is not new for any of us at home. The Marmite-and-cheese toastie has been a thing in British kitchens for as long as anyone can remember. What is new is that the procurement and product-development teams at the big chains have all looked at the same focus-group data and arrived at the same conclusion: Marmite is no longer too divisive for a menu board.
Why this is the right time of year for it
The autumn menu cycle is when the chains stop pretending people want salads and start admitting they want something hot and savoury at lunch. Marmite goes in beautifully here. The yeast extract intensifies under heat, the salt cuts through the cheese, and the toaster does the rest of the work.
The most obvious format is the Marmite-and-cheddar. The slightly less obvious format is Marmite-and-mushroom, which is the one to order if you see it. Either of these on sourdough at one in the afternoon, with the weather doing its September-in-Britain thing outside, is a real comfort.
What is actually happening on the menus
Caffè Nero have something with a fancy Italian name on it. Pret are doing a Marmite-and-cheddar toastie that is, by all accounts, a very straight read of the home version. M&S Café have a Marmite cheese melt that has been on a soft trial since spring and seems to have survived. Costa’s involvement is on the bakery side, with a Marmite cheese twist. Starbucks, surprisingly, are running a Marmite focaccia.
The Pret one is the one I would expect to do best, mostly because Pret are very good at executing a small idea cleanly and not over-engineering it.
The bigger pattern
If you read this alongside the Joe & Seph’s popcorn deal earlier this month, the Morrisons Marmite Mac ‘n’ Cheese, the Marmite cheddar sandwich at M&S, and the various Marmite-laced snacks now in supermarkets, what you are looking at is a brand that has quietly broken out of the breakfast cupboard.
For most of its life Marmite was a jar on a shelf. Now it is also a sandwich line, a popcorn flavour, a ready meal, a butcher’s sausage, and a cafe toastie. None of those products needed Marmite. Each chose Marmite because Marmite does a specific umami job that nothing else quite replicates. That is more interesting than another own-brand range extension.
Anyway
If you spot a Marmite toastie on a high street menu and you are even slightly Marmite-curious, give it a try. The chains will only keep these on the boards if they sell. Voting with your lunch budget is how we keep this run going.
The Hate Party are welcome to the cheese-and-tomato.
Source: Bakery Info autumn 2025 menu roundup.
