Pret a Manger

Pret a Manger

Type	Private
Industry	Retail outlets
Headquarters	London, England, UK
Number of locations	486 (July 2017)
Area served	United Kingdom, United States, Hong Kong, China, France, United Arab Emirates and Singapore
Key people	Clive Schlee (CEO), Nicholas Candler (COO)
Products	Sandwiches, salads, sushi, soups, coffees and snacks
Revenue	£ 776 Million (2016) [1]
Operating income	£ 93 Million (2016) [2]
Owner	Bridgepoint Capital
Website	www.pret.co.uk

Inside Pret a Manger, Victoria Place, London

Pret a Manger /ˈprɛt ə ˈmɑːnʒeɪ/ is an international sandwich shop chain based in the United Kingdom, commonly referred to simply as "Pret".^[3]

History

First Pret a Manger restaurant

A restaurant named Pret a Manger was founded by Jeffrey Hyman^[4] on 21 October 1983. The first Pret A Manger shop opened in Hampstead, London, in 1984.^[5][6] The name Prêt à Manger (French pronunciation: ​[pʁɛt‿a mɑ̃ʒe], ready to eat) was based on prêt-à-porter, French for "ready-to-wear" clothing. The iconic logo was designed by art director Mike Earl in the 80's.

This Pret A Manger was located opposite Hampstead Underground station, had its own kitchen, and offered ready-to-eat freshly made natural food, filled baguettes, Croque-monsieur and other ready-to-go convenience foods.

Opening in June 1986, the company traded at 58 Hampstead High Street for eighteen months^[7] at which time takings had dropped to below break-even point and the company went into liquidation. It was sold by company liquidator David Rubin to college friends Sinclair Beecham and Julian Metcalfe. ^[8]

Pret A Manger, 1986 onwards

Julian Metcalfe and Sinclair Beecham started a new operation, but using the Pret A Manger name which had devolved to them.^[9] They opened their first shop of the new Pret A Manger in July 1986, located at 173 Victoria Street in London. Beecham and Metcalfe had met while studying at University.^[10]

The pair pioneered the chain's menu of handmade natural food, freshly prepared in shop kitchens, and they are still significant shareholders in the company.^[11]

In 1995 Julian and Sinclair set up the Pret Foundation Trust with the aim to alleviate poverty in the UK^[12]. The Trust receives donations from the sale of products and collection boxes in shops. The donations fund Pret's "Charity Run" vans which deliver unsold food to homeless shelters at the end of each day^[13].

The first shop outside of London was opened on Broad Street, New York in 2000^[14]. In 2016 there were 74 Pret shops in the United States^[15].

In 2001, McDonald's bought a 33% non-controlling stake in the USA branch of the company,^[16] which they sold in 2008 to private equity firm Bridgepoint Capital, owners of clothing retailer Fat Face.^[17][18]

The company opened its first shop in France in 2012^[12] and had a total of 19 shops in France in 2016^[15].

In 2016, its group sales were £776 million^[15].

Restaurants

Exterior view Pret a Manger, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

The company emphasises the use of natural ingredients and advertises that its sandwiches are made on the day of purchase in a kitchen at each location (with the stated exception of a few small outlets). Food left unsold at the end of the day is collected by charities. Sandwiches are packaged in paperboard rather than sealed plastic.^[19] 67% of its trade is in London, where around three-quarters of its stores are located. Unlike many other fast food outlets, Pret a Manger does not franchise. Locations include:

• Boston: 6 outlets, as of April 2016. Two stores opened in December 2012, in the Back Bay and Financial District.^[20] In June 2014, Pret opened its largest American location in Boston's Downtown Crossing neighborhood. This location stands at 5,335 square feet and can seat 100 people.^[21]
• Chicago^[22]
• Dubai: 1 outlet, as of March 2016. The first outlet in Dubai opened on 16 March 2016 at Dubai International Airport's new Concourse D.^[23]
• New York City^[22]
• Washington, D.C.^[22]

Organization

Pret a Manger graphic scheme, London storefront

In 1998, the company employed 1,400 people, of whom 19% were from the UK and 60% were from other European Union countries, mainly in Eastern Europe. Pret A Manger employs one in every 14 applicants. Applicants go on a one-day experience day at a shop and their success is determined by the other staff members, who vote the applicant in or not. Many managers and senior executives have come from within the company.^[24]

The organisational structure of Pret A Manger is divided between its stores and the main offices. The London head office is the hub for the UK stores, while the office in New York City is the hub for the American stores.^[25] Each store contains levels of positions that range from Team Member to the General Manager of the store.^[26] Above the in-store manager is the Operations Manager who is in charge of a group of roughly 10 stores, and above that are more senior management positions based out of the offices that are tasked with coordinating an entire region and maintaining communication with the company’s CEO in London.^[25] All the office employees are paired with a "buddy shop" where they work at least two days a year.^[27]

While the uppermost levels of management are located in the offices, not all the office jobs are above the store jobs in the organizational structure. Pret does not franchise any of its stores, in order to keep management strategies uniform across the entire brand.^[28] Orders do not strictly flow from the head offices in a top-down manner; instead, the channel of communication between the executives and the stores is open in both directions.^[28]

Pret a Manger promotes an internal culture as described in a leaflet entitled "Pret Behaviours". The Behaviours break down traits into three categories: passion, clear talking and team working – and identify specific behaviours as "Don’t want to see", "Want to see", and "Pret perfect!"^[29] The number of Behaviours Pret hopes an employee exhibits increases with one's rank within the company: Team Members should practise around six Behaviours, Managers ten, and the company’s executives all of them.^[30]

Controversies

Affective labour issues

Pret A Manger has been cited as being particularly vigorous in extracting affective labour from its employees.^[31] Affective labour (or emotional labour)^[32] is work which involves manipulating a person's emotional state.

Pret A Manger demands go beyond traditional requirements for fast-food workers (such as courtesy, efficiency, and reliability) to such tasks as having "presence", demonstrating a quirky sense of fun, and exhibiting behaviour consistent with being inwardly happy with oneself.^[33] Pret A Manger uses mystery shoppers to ensure that employees deploy markers of a positive emotional state.^[31][34] This has led to some criticism of the company for over-reaching^[31][32][35] while drawing some praise for the business model.^[34][36]

Pret A Manger Staff Union

In response to labour issues within the company, the Pret A Manger Staff Union was established in 2012 as an independent union with its principal demand being made around calls for a Living Wage.^[37] Andrej Stopa, the founder of the union was later sacked from his Pret branch.^[38][39]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pret A Manger.

• Official website
• Pret A Manger - US site