Pret A Manger has come a long way in a short time. in just 16 years of trading it has changed the way we lunch forever. In the past, if inner city workers wanted to nip out and get a snack they could either go to a specialist, independently run sandwich shop or a supermarket where standards can vary from good to (more frequently) very bad. This is where Julian Metcalfe and Sinclair Beecham stepped in to fill the gap.
Three years after having graduated from the Polytechnic of Central London with the same degree (Urban Estate Management), Beecham and Metcalfe opened their first Pret a Manger store in Victoria in London with a name borrowed from a boarded up shop. However, after twelve years of running the business the two co-founders decided to take a more back seat approach and appointed Andrew Rolf as a partner, shareholder and chairman of the overall operation.
The angles or values Rolfe mentions are key to the brands’ continuing success and have been purposefully retained throughout Pret’s lifetime, something many small businesses could aspire to. Pret’s chairman believes the company to still be as strong as ever. “There are three core values that have always remained true to the brand and they all stem around passion. First and foremost, we are passionate about food and keeping it fresh and interesting. This is our core product and we work hard to produce the best we can. It would be easier to get tubs of guacamole instead of cutting fresh avocados in each kitchen in each shop but we stick to quality and taste."
When a brand gets bigger, expansion plans come into question and new partners need to be found to achieve successful growth. This is why last year the McDonalds Corporation bought a 33 per cent stake in the company that gave Pret access to their global infrastructure in property as well as improved construction and distribution and new ways of spreading the brand abroad.
Do you think there is a future for Pret in Asia? How big could they get?
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