Pret A Manger: Back to profit for first time since 2018
Pret A Manger has announced an annual profit for the first time since 2018 thanks to a successful international push and its revamped coffee subscription service.
The high-street favourite recorded revenues of £429.9m, growing by 20.2 per cent compared to the same period in 2022 when it reported a loss of £226m. Its last profitable year in 2018 made the hospitality chain profits of £19.6m.
Part of Pret’s success is due to international growth. With 600 outlets worldwide, just 25 per cent of these are UK based. It now operates shops in 15 markets including Ireland, Switzerland and Hong Kong.
The British franchise has also expanded into various new markets including India, where it opened its first site in the financial district of Mumbai in April.
A revamped subscription service has proved more popular than the original. Earlier this year, the cafe said that it would increase the price of its loyalty scheme ‘Club Pret’ by five pounds to £30, but fans would get a 10 per cent discount on food – on top of five ‘free’ coffees a day.
The scheme initially launched a few years back but only offered coffee to subscribers.
Pret A Manger, which means Ready to Eat in French, also said digital transactions accounted for 42 per cent of transactions during the first half of the year, up from 40 per cent in December, as some 650,000 punters downloaded the loyalty app.
In response to the cost of living crisis, Pret also hiked its team’s salaries, saying it would hike pay for its worst-paid staff by 2.9 per cent, from £10.30 an hour to £10.60 an hour.
It has given its UK staff three pay rises in 12 months.
“It’s been three years of transformation at Pret, in which we’ve evolved into a truly global, multi-channel brand, and emerged as a stronger business than we were in 2019,” Pano Christou, Pret’s chief executive officer, said.
“We’re focused on continuing to grow, while constantly innovating to bring Pret’s freshly made food and organic coffee to brand new places, from Bishop’s Stortford to Bradford and from Italy to India.
“We’re now bringing Pret to even more people thanks to our excellent franchise partners in the UK and around the world.”