
The Rise and Fall of Pret a Manger - Oras
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/pret-barista-subscription-future
======
Gustek
I used to work at the Pret during my student years. All employees, we were
very puzzled by why Pret is so popular and why are they willing to pay so much
for the food. Today with a better-paid job, when in the centre and need to get
a quick snack, Pret is often my choice. End of the day they have good food and
offer good service. You hear many stories about people who used to work for
McD and they say they will never eat there again. I can confidently say that
at Pret, I did not see any red flags that would make me not eat there.

I wonder how the subscription idea will work for them. Pret is a sandwich
shop, but most of the profit comes from coffee. When I used to work there, the
price of a coffee was £2, and the cost was £0.20. I guess they expect most
people to not max out on the offer, which is probably a reasonable assumption.

At the time, we were told the reason Pret does not offer free coffee after N
transactions is because they want to make a customer feel special when they
get free coffee. That's why all employees are allowed to give free coffee to
anyone at their discretion, just not too many :) Sounds like it is about to
change.

~~~
chrisseaton
> All employees, we were very puzzled by why Pret is so popular and why are
> they willing to pay so much for the food.

What's was puzzling about it? They're reasonably nice and fresh sandwiches in
a nice room for not a lot of money. And as you knew yourself it seems clean
too.

~~~
ben_w
Now that I’m a senior software developer, I earn enough that I don’t need to
care how much food like this costs.

When I was a student, during term time (rather than the summer holidays when I
had a job and lived with my parents), I made a game out of spending as little
as possible on food. My record was 50p per day sustained over an entire term
in 2004 (adjusted for inflation, that’s about £1 per day today).

Accounting for disposable income rather than gross income, being surprised
that students find £4 sandwiches expensive is like being supposed that someone
on €60k doesn’t eat _every_ lunch in €100-a-head restaurants. (Those sorts of
restaurants are still “fancy special occasions only” for me).

~~~
chrisseaton
But presumably these people are aware that there are people who aren't living
on a pound a day. They can't be genuinely surprised that most people out there
can afford a couple of pounds for lunch? They'd have to be ignorant of the
basic economic state of the nation to be surprised by this.

~~~
zelos
I don't know: as a reasonably well paid software developer I still find the
amount people are prepared to pay for lunch surprising. As the article
mentions, once you buy coffee+sandwich+pastry+fruit you can easily be over
£10, which is something like the price of a new Macbook every year?

~~~
wenc
Well my rationale is a little different. I tend to buy lunch every day because
I like fresh/hot food, I like variety and I like putting money into the local
economy (many lower income folks depend on their food service salaries). And I
enjoy doing other things with my leisure time than prepping meals.

Nothing wrong with prepping food on the weekends — many find it therapeutic
while others do it out of financial need or for dietary reasons - but I
personally wouldn’t do it to save a few bucks. I was a poor student for many
years, and I’ve had to do it out of need, but I’m glad to be able to live
differently now.

------
crazygringo
As an American, I've always been so confused by Pret's sandwiches.
Specifically, how they're like 95% bread.

Seriously. You get their "famous ham and cheese" and it's a mini baguette with
like a _single_ layer of ham and cheese. Like the ham and cheese is a
condiment, rather than filling.

It's a stretch to call what they sell "sandwiches". It's closer to just
flavored bread. And remember -- it's not just sugar that increases the risk
for diabetes, but massive amounts of processed carbs, exactly like Pret.

I'll take my corner deli please, where a sandwich is more like a balanced
meal: an actual full serving of protein inside, with lots of tomatoes, peppers
and lettuce too.

~~~
twic
Sandwiches in the UK are a scandal. Pret got huge in part because their
sandwiches we so much _better_ than the other options. Imagine that!

When Pret launched, your options were a packet sandwich from Boots or
something, which would be stale sliced bread with a single layer of tasteless
waxy cheese, or something from a sandwich shop, where the choices are (1) tuna
mayonnaise that has been there since yesterday (2) a cheese bun wrapped in
cling film and kept in a fridge (3) a (one piece of incinerated) bacon, (limp)
lettuce, and (tasteless, but mercifully thinly sliced) tomato.

Things are a bit better now, but to be honest, still terrible. You can wander
around New York or Madrid and find a random sandwich place on a street corner
that would be in the top 10 in London.

My theory is that this a manifestation of a broader cultural weakness of
(most) British people, which is that they can't imagine that a better world is
possible. Nobody looks at that "famous ham and cheese" and thinks, "okay, but
what if there were five slices of each of those, and the bread tasted of
something, and there was lashings of a delicious wholegrain mustard
dressing?". Because they don't imagine it, they don't demand it, and Pret
keeps on churning out abysmal lunches.

~~~
saberience
I'm not sure I agree with this AT ALL. I've spent most of my adult life split
between New York (5+ years), California (5+ years), and also Berlin and Paris
for a few years. I'm originally British and live in London now. I've eaten
sandwiches in all of these countries (obviously).

Pret's sandwiches hold up to any sandwiches I've had in any of those
countries. I've had the occasional better sandwich (especially in Paris), but
I would take Pret's sandwiches over most of the crap sandwiches I ate in New
York. New York sandwiches tend to assume that packing in TONS of shit quality
meat makes the sandwich better. I don't actual like to eat through an inch of
American-quality processed meat to mask the fact that the bread is crap.

French style sandwiches have less total filling but the filling itself is high
quality and tasty, including the butter. Also the bread tends to be extremely
delicious by itself.

The only sandwiches I would get in New York are freshly made bagels from the
better bagel places in Brooklyn. However, this is comparing apples to oranges
because this whole discussion is about pre-made sandwiches which you get off a
shelf and go, not freshly made sandwiches.

~~~
sagichmal
Pret sandwiches are airport food, it's incoherent to suggest they're
comparable to the sandwich you can get in from bodega deli counter in New
York.

~~~
saberience
Dude those bodega deli sandwiches in NYC are mostly shit. Cheap bagel, cheap
bread, cheap meat. The only good thing is the "value for money" since you get
basically an inch of meat, but the meat is the cheapest bottom of the shelf
quality meat you can buy.

Trust me, I spent years getting those bodega sandwiches in New York and sure,
when you're drunk they seem good, but it's not quality fare by any stretch of
the imagination.

~~~
sagichmal
You and I have completely different perceptions of reality.

------
lordnacho
My guess from chatting to some of the people in the stores is there's gonna be
a bloodbath. Your average food shop is running on what kind of margin? Maybe
20% at best, 15% more commonly?

I chatted with a guy who says his business is down 90%. The guy at Subway said
something similar. Before the apocalypse, the business made sense because of
the sheer number of people walking by. You could pay for the food, the labour,
and the landlord, reliably, because there are so many jobs based in central
London.

Now that WFH has been "discovered" it's doubtful. I mean if everyone works
from home just one day a week, that's 20% fewer sandwiches they will need to
buy.

~~~
Chris_Newton
_Now that WFH has been "discovered" it's doubtful. I mean if everyone works
from home just one day a week, that's 20% fewer sandwiches they will need to
buy._

I’m not so sure. Just because you’re working from home, that doesn’t mean you
want to spend a significant amount of time shopping for and preparing lots of
different things for your lunches. If you were OK with that, you could easily
have taken a packed lunch to work before and probably saved quite a bit of
money, but the existence of the sandwich shop as a concept suggests that
plenty of people prefer the convenience and variety they offer.

What I _do_ expect to see now is a rebalancing of where these places are
found. Not so long ago, we moved from a busy area of Cambridge (UK) to a
village a few miles outside the city. Life is different here, but better in
most ways. We don’t have a Pret sandwich place or a Wetherspoons pub here. We
do have a couple of local cafés and a baker, though, and several other pubs.
We also get something I had only noticed in passing while living in the city,
which is the food trucks that travel around and set up in a different spot
each evening. Each truck typically has its own speciality cuisine and they’re
great if you want something interesting for dinner.

As far as I can tell, these are all independent small businesses, often run by
the owners. We were worried for them during the months when almost everything
was closed down because of the virus, but fortunately they made it through and
now they seem to be thriving, presumably because they’re well placed to serve
a suddenly-larger local market.

I have nothing against Pret. I've eaten there many times when I’ve been
travelling for work or shopping for a while in a big place. But _almost
everything_ is better about those local businesses I mentioned. If the strange
circumstances this year cause a permanent change in our lifestyles and if that
makes local catering more viable at the expense of the big convenience chains
aimed at a commuting workforce, I find it hard to see a downside, at least in
the long term after a possibly disruptive period of change. The trade and jobs
will probably still be there, just in smaller businesses serving their own
communities.

~~~
lordnacho
Well you're certainly right that the economy will move. If it wasn't for the
virus, I would have done even more business at one of the village pubs around
here. I can see more than a few people just bringing their laptops to lunch,
your local gastropub is nicer than Starbucks.

The food trucks thing makes sense. I've also spoken to some people who run
that type of business, and they probably have the best outcome of all the food
businesses.

Several of them do this thing where they will book a popular spot in town
centre on certain days, then the commuter belt on the weekends. They are of
course not bound by long term rental contracts, so it's easy for them to
simply not book the expensive now-empty locations on their apps. They also
seem to sell out wherever they go (great inventory management), so they can
simply adjust their locations.

Agree almost everything about the family owned experience is better. I'm not
sure it will be so easy for Pret/etc to move out to the suburbs. Name
recognition is all they bring, nobody thinks a Pret sandwich is particularly
good. There's also more options for people who are at home: you can cook, you
can meet someone for a proper lunch at a pub, you've got the food trucks, the
supermarket also sells sandwiches and you might go there anyway, and you've
got farm delivery. Pret might be worse off but the rest of us are better off.

~~~
Chris_Newton
_The food trucks thing makes sense. I 've also spoken to some people who run
that type of business, and they probably have the best outcome of all the food
businesses._

That makes sense. Out here in the villages, having the trucks visit is
mutually beneficial, too. They provide a diversity of takeaway options that
wouldn’t otherwise exist in the smaller communities. We provide lots of small
markets who are generally welcoming when they’re coming to visit, and because
they move from day to day, they can be successful with a smaller menu that
makes sense to offer from the truck. Everybody wins.

 _I 'm not sure it will be so easy for Pret/etc to move out to the suburbs.
Name recognition is all they bring, nobody thinks a Pret sandwich is
particularly good._

I doubt it will be businesses like Pret that come out well from the change in
lifestyle, assuming it does happen as we’re imagining here. The brand
represents a safe bet when you’re visiting somewhere unfamiliar, and that
probably has a lot of value. But if many of us are staying closer to home,
we’ll probably get to know our local places pretty quickly anyway, and then
that name recognition for the big brands and their franchises just isn’t that
important any more. As you say, the likes of Pret might be worse off, but the
rest of us will probably be better off.

------
JustARandomGuy
American here (work in downtown Chicago), I used to get Pret several times a
week as one of their stores was right next door to my office. They have
delicious sandwiches, bakery items, and fruit cups, but it's very expensive -
a croissant and a breakfast sandwich ran close to $10.

It's a great place if you want to eat healthy and have a short lunch time, but
there are better options to deliver from if you're WFH.

~~~
mortenjorck
I'll miss them. (If you're not aware, Pret permanently closed all its Chicago
locations except UChicago last month:
[https://chicago.eater.com/2020/8/24/21396276/pret-a-
manger-s...](https://chicago.eater.com/2020/8/24/21396276/pret-a-manger-
sandwich-grab-and-go-chain-closed-chicago-pandemic-dandds-place-doughnuts-
fundraiser))

I just hope Chicgao's own euro-style sandwich chain Hannah's Bretzel survives.

~~~
celim307
Hannah’s is even more expensive

~~~
shanemlk
but tastes better per dollar

------
partisan
I’ve had pret in London on a brief visit. I had the Peking duck wrap. It was
delicious and I had it as often as I could during that trip.

I came back to nyc with a healthy respect for pret and often ate from there at
my last job. I will miss it, personally speaking, but I understand when others
see it as unworthy of eating.

That is why a market with variety is so important, different tastes are served
by those who serve them best.

------
james412
Pret and Itsu (same founders) have been my default shops for many years
because you simply don't have to think, walking in and out in under 2 minutes
is absolutely to be expected, and if you're a bit autistic and enjoy routine,
can have precisely the same choc bar + coffee + salad + sandwich with
identical consistency on every single visit

Their food is hardly amazing, but it is wonderfully consistent. Truly hope
they survive and flourish once more, London simply would not be the same
without them

~~~
mprovost
Dominic Raab (currently the UK's foreign secretary) is (in)famous for having
the same Pret meal for lunch every (working) day: a chicken caesar and bacon
baguette, with a pot of fruit and the same smoothie.

[https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/apr/26/is-
it-w...](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/apr/26/is-it-weird-to-
eat-the-same-sandwich-for-lunch-every-day)

------
tony
If you like this subject, you may like the Company Man on YouTube.

Specifically, they have a playlist for "Company declines" on YouTube:
[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9_9_unNR_e7MU1-fJy9B...](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9_9_unNR_e7MU1-fJy9B3GFgFkNojs13)

Covers: Kmart, Blockbuster, RadioShack, Toys R Us, Pan Am, Kodak, Sear,
Payless, Hostess, Nokia, Quiznos

~~~
throwaway83383
Why does the guy who makes those half-laugh at every other sentence of his own
script?

------
vvilliamperez
I saw these all over New York in Christmas 2019. Ended up grabbing a bite to
eat and was pretty impressed with the food. Definitely fills a market gap for
fast, small, semi-healthy food. No oversized combo meals there.

------
scubbo
I can honestly say that, aside from "good pubs", Pret a Manger is the thing I
miss most having moved from London to San Francisco. There's just nothing like
it for quick, easy, good coffee-and-premade-food (or I just haven't found it -
in which case, please consider this a masterful invocation of Cunningham's
Law).

~~~
0max
I think SF is more of a burrito and onigiri type of town. Some of my favorite
grab and go spots are Asian grocery stores.

~~~
082349872349872
Burritos make an excellent substitute for Döner.

Onigiri look like what happens to picnic loaves when they reach islands at the
other end of eurasia?

~~~
robotmay
I think of onigiri as a Japanese variant of the Cornish Pasty. I imagine it
does have similar roots: making an edible wrapper for food that preserves it
until lunch.

------
switch11
Pret a Manger

1) Amazing food

2) Very nicely set up

3) Just read the blogs etc. that London women write about Pret a Manger. In
their minds it's the kind of place where they can get good food and also find
'the man of their dreams'

4) very little real competition

5) most people have a decent amount of disposable income. You can eat utter
rubbish at a fast food joint, or you can terrible tasting food from a
convenience store, or you can eat at a good place like Pret a Manger

6) Quick

 __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __*

They do a lot of things right

If your target audience has money, then providing them a high quality service
and pricing it higher is good

It's also a big help if the pricing ensures that only upwardly mobile people
can afford it

Go into a fish and chips in london and you have half of East London in there,
innit?

go to Pret a Manger and it's people you wouldn't mind having a pint at the pub
with

~~~
tluyben2
1) matter of taste I would say; I find it quite horrible. Miles removed from
something like Le Pain Quotidien, but yeah matter of taste. When working for a
client in London I would rather skip lunch vs eat the plastic Pret serves. Or,
you know, actually go to the pub and have a pint.

~~~
chrisseaton
> matter of taste I would say; I find it quite horrible. Miles removed from
> something like Le Pain Quotidien, but yeah matter of taste. When working for
> a client in London I would rather skip lunch vs eat the plastic Pret serves.

It's just bread, salad, vegetables, meat, butter, prepared conventionally.

You're talking about it like it's some kind of synthetic replacement? It's
just normal fresh ingredients. I'm not sure it's possible for them to be doing
it so bad as to justify your reaction.

~~~
tluyben2
I'm talking about that it all taste horrible and fake to me. I know they say
it's handmade and fresh but all I had (in center of London and on Gatwick
airport) tasted tired and artificial and it being wrapped in tons of plastic
does not help. This compared to other places (around the corner usually),
where it's freshly prepared (so the baguette or sandwich cut and your toppings
added, not premade) in front of you and put in a paper bag or in nothing if
you eat it straight away. If you put the condiments on the sandwich and wrap
it and put it in a cooler (like Pret does), the moist will make it just soggy
crap.

Even my local supermarket bakes baguettes all day long instead of 'driving
them in' in the morning and being 'maximally 1 day old' according to Pret
(which is contested all over the web but let's say 1 day old max is true); 10+
hours is _far_ too old for bread with toppings wrapped in plastic), IMHO. I
understand this should be much cheaper to run, but, for instance, my
supermarket is cheaper still and nicer, so the cheap (looking, feeling,
tasting) factor of premaking everything does not reflect in the prices.

Which is, again, the matter of taste; some people like those soggy things.
Maybe you do too or you have a different experience because you went to a US
one or one that has different facilities (maybe in other countries they are
better; I cannot believe French or Belgian people would eat this quality food
while surrounded by freshness)? I went more than once to different ones and it
was all equally bad. Especially when you are in London, there are far more
superior places around every corner (even at the airport; Jamie's / Wagamama
are next door, why would you ever...). I just rather skip a meal than eat a
bad one, which is fine I think.

Even most of the images make me cringe [0]. And most of these images are pro
images and promotion images; the soggy gunk in my hands didn't look this
'nice'. This for instance [1] would be a reason to go; however, they pulled it
because this pic is not real; the real thing was... not good, hence they
pulled it (ofcourse the bread is bad if you trying to emulate a french feel
but then prepack it). While the Le Pain version [2] is always spot on; nice
baguettes, consistent quality and not premade.

Disclaimer: I can only speak for the London Prets as I worked close to one (at
a bank) there and went a few times with my colleagues until deciding it was
too horrible to actually eat. And only went to the HK Le Pain; I didn't know
they had them in London, but seems they do (at least before Covid). If you
only care about how quick it is, then, yes, it's quick; I don't however; I
care about the taste and quality.

And like I said; it's taste, can't really agree/disagree (or justify as you
say), just chat about it; you have a different taste than I have; that's fine;
it's not worse or better or whatever; it's probably more convenient (I am very
picky about what I eat; it has to be good always, which is why I cook/make
most of what I eat myself for the past 20 years, including baking bread (not
bread machine; by hand)) to be you, but I seek convenience/saving time in
other things.

[0]
[https://www.google.com/search?q=pret+manger+sandwich&tbm=isc...](https://www.google.com/search?q=pret+manger+sandwich&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwiOs9e-4_TrAhXOgM4BHW2sDkoQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=pret+manger+sandwich&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzIECCMQJzIECCMQJzICCAAyBggAEAgQHjIGCAAQCBAeMgYIABAIEB4yBggAEAgQHjIGCAAQCBAeMgQIABAYUOVaWOVaYLRcaABwAHgAgAF1iAF1kgEDMC4xmAEAoAEBqgELZ3dzLXdpei1pbWfAAQE&sclient=img&ei=F75lX87LLc6Bur4P7di60AQ&bih=845&biw=1660)
[1] [https://london.eater.com/2019/10/25/20931811/pret-manger-
jam...](https://london.eater.com/2019/10/25/20931811/pret-manger-jambon-
beurre-sandwich-discontinued) [2] [https://www.openrice.com/en/hongkong/p-le-
pain-quotidien-p54...](https://www.openrice.com/en/hongkong/p-le-pain-
quotidien-p5460093)

> It's just bread, salad, vegetables, meat, butter, prepared conventionally.

Some reading materials:
[https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2142241/uk-
ad...](https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2142241/uk-ad-watchdog-
doesnt-swallow-pret-mangers-natural-sandwiches-made)
[https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/12/pret-a...](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/12/pret-
a-manger-marketing)

Nothing conventional about it unless you mean mass manufacturing, added
chemicals and storing it for a day are conventional for a fresh made sandwich
with toppings. Maybe they are in some places, not here though.

~~~
chrisseaton
Do you realise all food contains added 'chemicals'? Adding a sprinkle of salt
is 'adding a chemical'. It's not true that the food is literally 'plastic'.

~~~
tluyben2
I didn't say literal; it tastes (and feels, and looks) to me like it.

------
porknubbins
I always thought their almond croissants were really good. It makes sense they
are from London because Europeans, even the UK seem to take baked goods more
seriously than the US.

~~~
vinay427
Is it that surprising that Europeans have higher standards for European foods,
or at least the ones local to them? Foreign imports will always be seen as
specialty items that tend to be overpriced and usually few and far between.
You might find good European bread options in the US if you're willing to
spend far more time and money to travel to that one bakery in town that has
higher standards, but most people won't bother.

------
genmon
Related: this is a great long read in the Guardian about the emergence of the
lunch sandwich in the UK.

[https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/24/how-the-
sandwic...](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/24/how-the-sandwich-
consumed-britain)

One nugget: the lunch sandwich was invented by M&S in the early 1990s, and it
was immediately hugely popular. Yet management missed the chance to capitalise
on it by opening standalone sandwich shops.

A lesson in organisational inertia, leading to a business missing a huge new
opportunity right under their noses. My view: businesses should compensate for
this by doubling-down _by default_ on any form of enlargement that works,
deliberately _not_ considering overall strategy. The limit to consider
strategic implications should be higher than it currently is.

------
lkramer
I never understood the British sandwich culture. I'm currently living and
working London and the number of times people will just go for a quick
sandwich, which typically means some depressing mayo filled abomination with a
packet of crisps and a softdrink is depressing when there are genuinely nice
places to have lunch, for not much more.

What is even more mind boggling is when you work with British people abroad at
places with genuinely great food culture, like Tokyo or Singapore, and they
then lament that there is 'no where around to get decent sandwich`, by which
they mean their industrially produced cardboard tasting abomination, since
typically you can get actually good sandwiches in those places as well as a
variety of other thing.

~~~
Accacin
What's to understand? I saw people at lunch eating wrapped rice things in
Japan from the 7/11 which weren't that great compared to other places I could
eat (especially the 'fresh' ones which were easy to find), but people still
ate them.

In Singapore there were amazing food centers, and I saw Singaporeans eating at
McDonald's! Why were they doing that when there were so many good options
about?

I've never understood why people are so judgemental about what others eat.

~~~
lkramer
Sorry, yes it came across as judgemental. I guess it's because food,
especially lunch, is such an important thing in my life, pretty much the
highlight of the day, it just makes me a bit sad when it's not the case for
others.

------
kps
Ah, if HN readers are fascinated by Pret a Manger, wait 'til they hear about J
Lyons tea shops.

~~~
Lio
Don’t knock Lyons, they made the world’s first business computer[1] for those
tea shops ...and they sell crumpets.

This would be like finding out Pret had a side gig in quantum computing ...and
crumpets.

1\.
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/LEO_(computer)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/LEO_\(computer\))

~~~
kps
Yes, LEO was the point. A chain of English tea shops were bleeding-edge
pioneers of computing.

------
mytailorisrich
We need to wait and see how things develop.

Even if people continue to WFH in the long term, I think many would still like
to buy Pret a Manger (and others) products because it's not because people are
at home that they necessarily want to cook their lunch every day or don't want
to buy snacks.

So there may be an opportunity to adapt and perhaps we'll have Pret a Manger
vans driving around in residential areas like ice cream vans do on sunny
weekends.

People have been saving on this and the hugely expensive train fares (around
London) and realise how much more cash they have left at the end of the month,
which also explains why they don't want to go back to office. But that means
that there is an opportunity for new services to make people spend that cash.

~~~
hankchinaski
man i am so happy not to have to spend for overpriced tiny sandwiches for
lunch when i can cook something at home which is both healthier and cheaper -
combined with the crazy expensive transport i am saving on, i wish WFH
continues as long as possible!

------
lancewiggs
Perhaps they could consider opening up in New Zealand. Plenty of folks with UK
experience would jump at the chance for quality fast lunch.

~~~
mrkwse
I'm assuming you're from NZ? Given the greater degree of success NZ is having,
are offices still filled there, with little change to pre-COVID?

------
renewiltord
Fast eats like this are total rubbish in the UK. Don't know why. SF is so much
better. Walk downstairs, grab a quick sandwich at Working Girls, or
Specialty's (now dead), or Chipotle. Pret is like 7-Eleven food. Probably for
the best that it dies.

Fortunately, lots of food carts out in London that'll benefit.

~~~
bsder
> Specialty's

What killed them? We lost ours just about 18 months ago.

They seemed to be in a perfect spot, too. Only restaurant in a 20 floor office
building. We used them for lunch when customers came in all the time.

How could you screw that one up? Or was it that all their leases expired
simultaneously and they just couldn't pay the now-expensive rent?

~~~
thaumasiotes
I was recently informed by a friend in Shanghai that a lot of KFCs have closed
down, presumably due to covid-related business slowing. (There used to be
about 1 KFC per city block.)

That seemed understandable, until I learned a lot of them had been replaced
with other fried chicken places.

------
dreen
While I agree with other posters here that Pret has overpriced mediocre food
the standard coffee they offer is IMHO better than at every other similar
place. That includes Starbucks, Nero, Costa etc

OTOH, I havent bought a single cup since March since Im getting my beans from
Pact.

~~~
lvturner
Honestly, and I appreciate that this might be controversial, but the best
quality to price ratio coffee I have ever found, belongs to McDonald's - while
it might not be the best, it's perfectly drinkable and it's consistent store
to store, country to country. (Though, it is gross with whatever 'milk' they
use - I only drink it black)

------
pkaye
In Silicon valley there was a chain called Specialty's Cafe and Bakery. They
shut down permanently after the pandemic but it was very common place for
offices to order meals for lunch meetings. The sandwiches were bland but the
cookies were always nice.

~~~
rswail
"after the pandemic"... this sounds like a message left by a time traveller.

------
AznHisoka
I always read the name as “Pet a Manager” which makes me never want to step
inside one.

~~~
legerdemain
Luckily, the name just means "ready to eat" in French.

Perhaps they could have done like Panera and renamed themselves to something
that wouldn't upset easily confused American diners?

~~~
TeMPOraL
I always misread it the same way and I'm Polish.

English misreads confuse _everyone_ , not just Brits and Americans, because
for better or worse, English _is_ the international language. _Lingua franca_
, to make an obvious pun.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
OT: 'Lingua franca' might be my favourite term. AIUI its a Portuguese term to
refer to the 'Frankish language', the Franks being Germanic (not Gallic;
somewhat akin to the situation of Angles and Britons) and somehow it's used
normally to refer to English [not exclusively ofc, there are many _lingua
franca_ ].

We could just say 'common tongue', but that's just not the English [Language]
way - far too simple.

------
j7ake
I don't normally like sandwiches, but Pret a Manger has managed to make many
of their sandwiches very tasty. I think they manage to balance the right
flavors. Off the top of my head e.g. pickled red onions for sour, cheese/meat
for salty, roasted tomatoes and chutney for sweet.

Ingredients they use aren't necessarily fancy or expensive, but they balance
them appropriately and consistently.

------
kpozin
When I was in London on vacation nine years ago, Pret shops were a godsend. I
think at least half of my lunches and dinners were Pret sandwiches, as I was
generally running around and didn't have time or energy for much else. After
they became popular in NYC a few years later, I tried them a couple of times
but didn't find nearly as good a selection of healthy options as in London.

------
beck5
I would love to see pret move out a bit further where people live and WFH, or
even have a delivery truck which works the local area.

My partner and myself both WFH in Peckham, we would love to buy a couple of
sandwiches and coffees from pret via an app. We get the occasional falafel
wrap on just eat but there are not enough quick delivery options for
healthyish lunches.

------
jessaustin
The changes described in TFA seem like good ideas, but one would have expected
to read of them in May rather than _September_.

------
EricE
I'm so glad I never was a snacker - just from the cost savings alone (never
mind the savings in the size of my waist too)

------
throrthaway
Just in case people don't know, although the name _sounds_ French I've
literally never seen one in France. I guess it's like Mexico's Taco Bell or
something

~~~
barry-cotter
Up until 20 years ago a foreign language was compulsory in UK secondary
schools through the equivalent of US high school. The default foreign language
that virtually every school would teach was French, with other languages
usually being a nice to have. There’d be the occasional school that taught
German but not French. Up until very recently it could be assumed that
virtually every educated Briton could read French to a low level. And up until
the 70s at least not being able to speak French on some level would have been
vaguely embarrassing for middle class strivers. Writing things in French is
not a claim to be from France, it’s a class thing.

~~~
Chris_Newton
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Europe, speaking multiple languages to a useful level
is completely normal. They really are much better at that than we (Brits) are,
and the decision to drop the language requirements we did have in schools has
always seemed like a backward step to me.

I doubt Pret’s name really makes much difference to who it appeals to, though.
It’s a well-known brand, but if you’re selling sandwiches and coffees for
those prices as an everyday thing, you are clearly aiming for a certain type
of customer anyway.

~~~
barry-cotter
> Meanwhile, elsewhere in Europe, speaking multiple languages to a useful
> level is completely normal.

If they were more useful many more Brits would speak foreign languages to a
useful level. I can get by in French and German and I can read Spanish. It’s
been of extremely limited use to me except when I lived in Germany. English
OTOH is the world’s favorite second language and _the_ language of science and
international business. If the British had a land border with people who spoke
another language many more would speak that, and if fewer people spoke English
more Britons would be motivated to learn a foreign language. Learning foreign
languages is great but it’s kind of a giant waste of time for most English
native speakers on any monetary level. Most people never live abroad and
holidays are an atrocious reason to learn a language considering the enormous
time investment necessary to get to passable never mind fluent.

~~~
Chris_Newton
From a purely utilitarian point of view, I can’t argue with that. If almost
everyone speaks English and your only goal is to be able to communicate
effectively, a native English-speaker gains little from learning any other
language. I suppose the benefits I have found in studying other languages are
more subjective.

For example, I enjoy travelling and exploring other cultures. If I’m going to
be spending some time in someone else’s community, I feel both a little
vulnerable and a little… inconsiderate?… if I haven’t studied at least the
rudiments of their language and culture before I go. Sometimes the locals seem
to appreciate it if we’ve made the effort as well, even if we’re obviously
tourists and only able to do basic things like ordering lunch or simply being
polite and friendly using their language. And of course, not everyone speaks
English, particularly once you move away from the main tourist areas.

Sometimes I also find it interesting to see foreign perspectives on current
events. Brexit is the obvious recent example given I’m a Brit, but more
generally, I think it’s healthy to see different views of international
relations or global issues from time to time, and sometimes also to understand
the domestic politics of our geographic neighbours and our foreign partners in
trade or other matters.

As a rather different point to end on, I think studying languages in school
can also be helpful just for expanding the young mind. It requires being able
to see things from different points of view and to think logically, and I
think those are healthy characteristics to develop in general. IMHO, school at
that age shouldn’t just be about memorising raw facts and figures and about
learning economically valuable skills.

