20 Nov 2025
(L-R Jude Powell, Dave Snellart and Saina Bat-Ophir)
- Waitrose Windsor, a store which has long standing heritage in ‘The Royal Borough’ today (20.11.25) received one of the first ever new 100% Plant Based 3D Royal Warrants
- Waitrose was granted the Royal Warrant as Grocer and Wine & Spirits Merchant to His Majesty King Charles III in May 2024
- The awarding of The King’s Warrant follows that granted by Her late Majesty The Queen in 2002 and by The then Prince of Wales in 2010
Waitrose is the only supermarket to be granted the Royal Warrant, given as a mark of recognition to companies who have regularly supplied the Royal Household for a period of at least five years. Having been first granted a Royal Warrant in 1928, for supplying King George V with groceries and cleaning materials, it remains a huge source of pride for all those who work within the Partnership and for those who grow and supply its products also.
(Craft Guilder Colin Mullins)
Colin Mullins (pictured above) is a Craft Guilder and the artisan producer responsible for making the Royal Warrants by hand in a 3D format. Colin creates each one from his studio in Crewe and for the first time, has been able to produce them from 100% plant based materials. Waitrose is one of the first retailers to receive a plant based warrant, formed from caster oil bean, which not only ensures zero waste on materials used but also creates a hardy and weather proof end result.
Colin said: “It’s a proud moment indeed to see my work finally going into Waitrose Windsor, after many months spent working on each piece in my home studio. What starts off as some rough sketches and a lump of modelling clay, then gets 3D printed and shaped into the final piece you see up on the wall. I take great care to apply all the paint and gold leaf by hand, which is a very intricate and lengthy process. It's taken many years to hone my craft, and making my work as sustainable as possible is always a top priority for me. I hope Waitrose shoppers will stop and take a moment to look at it when they next pop in, taking in all the details and appreciating the heritage and quality it represents.”
There has been a Waitrose in Windsor since 1918, it was awarded a Royal Warrant in 1928 as a supplier of groceries and cleaning materials to George V and was the first Waitrose to have a warrant. The store has hosted visits from Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the late HRH Prince Phillip on several occasions.
Waitrose Windsor Branch Manager, Carolyn Bailey, said: “We are so excited to see the new Royal Warrant for His Majesty King Charles III go up on our wall today. It will have pride of place as customers enter the store, and we know our regular shoppers will be as pleased as we are to see the new design, and appreciate all the workmanship that’s gone into it. We have several Partners who have worked with us for over 40 years, some of whom are here today to toast the new addition to our store and celebrate this auspicious occasion. We’ve been lucky enough to house several of the previous Royal Warrants, but this will be the first 100% plant based one, which makes it feel even more special.”
Taking part in this celebration today, were several longstanding Waitrose Partners, including;
- John Birch - has worked in all of the three latest Windsor branches. He has 46 years in the Partnership and is an e-com driver
- Dave Snellart - celebrated 50 years in the Partnership this year
- Saina Bat-Ophir - new counters Partner
- Dean Hitchcock - has been a partner for 18 years and runs the welcome desk
- Carolyn Bailey - Branch Manager also ran the little shop to keep a presence in the town before the new branch opened
- Sandra Brown - Windsor partner
(L-R Dean Hitchcock, Jude Powell, John Birch, Dave Snellart, Saina Bat-Ophir and Carolyn Bailey)
Dean Hitchcock, Waitrose Windsor Partner commented: “The new Royal Warrant looks beautiful, Windsor is such a special store to work in and I can’t wait to see customer’s faces when they see it in pride of place. It makes me feel really proud to work here and adds to our unique offering as a supermarket.”
As well as the Windsor store, the 3D Royal Warrant will be visible in the following locations prior to Christmas, including: Belgravia, Malmesbury and the Waitrose Head Office in Bracknell. The new warrant will also be rolling out across the Waitrose vehicle fleet, as well as being added to the front cover design of Waitrose Food and Waitrose Weekend magazines and is already visible on the website too.
Waitrose Partners go above and beyond in delivering excellent service to their communities, driving high environmental and animal welfare standards and treating our farmers and suppliers fairly. The granting of a Warrant requires rigorous sustainability conditions to be met, and continuing to strive for those high standards across the board remains of the utmost importance.
Notes to editors
Photography credit: Mark Mackenzie
Link to full selection of photography available to use.
About Waitrose & Partners
Run by over 45,000 passionate Partners, Waitrose has been serving customers for 120 years and offers extraordinary products in our 317 shops and on Waitrose.com. Inspiring food discovery, our expert Partners run almost 800 specialist food service counters in store, where customers can shop a variety of the best quality meat, fresh fish, dry aged beef, sushi, as well as cheese. Our Beer, Wine and Spirits team features the largest number of Masters of Wine of any UK supermarket and we sell nearly 3,000 different wines, beers, ciders, spirits as well as no and low drinks in our shops, on Waitrose.com and Waitrose Cellar. We are committed to selling products which have been responsibly sourced, grown using the very best sustainable farming methods, some of which are grown or trialled on our very own farm, the Leckford Estate. In 2024, Waitrose was granted the Royal Warrant of Appointment to be Grocers and Wine & Spirits Merchant to His Majesty King Charles III.
