Papers presented by Danielle La Scala since 2019

2024 Providence, Rhode Island

"Double Niners to McEnnedy Burgers: The Transfer of American Supermarket Practice and Innovation into Britain"

Abstract:

Supermarkets, as the pinnacle of our food procurement, transfer ideas intercontinentally to anyone who can afford to enter their doors. In a post-war era, major British supermarket, Sainsbury’s, chased global prominence and facilitated an understudied era of innovation with the largest leading American grocers in the New England area, Shaw’s and Stop & Shop. From 1949 onwards, executives at Sainsbury’s exchanged business practice by studying the self-service mechanisms, product lines, labour principals, and the ideology of American supermarkets. When Sainsbury’s obtained a partial stake in Shaw’s in 1983, it altered the wider food business in the US and the UK, for instance, through the introduction of own-label products. The effects of this interchange can still be seen in consumer purchasing habits today. Reigniting the neglected historical discourse from the early 2000s on the Americanization and technologicalization of British supermarkets, this paper will firstly analyse original archival materials including company journals, correspondence, personal documentation, and newspapers to depict the process of the transfer of business knowledge between Sainsbury’s and Shaw’s across the late twentieth century. Where Sainsbury’s embraced the theme of ‘Americana’ in their home stores through a line of American-inspired burger products, this paper later turns to product ephemera. Leaflets and advertisements focused on burgers exemplify the impact of this exchange on the consumer experience and demonstrate how a product can be conceptually reworked during international passage. The supermarket played an indispensable role in the exposure, and eventual acceptance, of an American way of life in the UK. At the intersection of business and food history with cultural studies, this paper explores a case study of this entwined interaction between US and UK corporations during a period of marked innovation. It aims to consider how these businesses transformed each other and in turn, the lives of employees and customers alike.

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