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Louise Thomas
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Pret A Manger is changing its controversial £360-a-year subscription four years after it was launched.
The chain has also announced price changes to some of its most popular items.
The new service will mean 50% off up to five coffees a day for £10 a month, the company announced.
The sandwich chain said customers could sign up to the revamped Club Pret at a “much more accessible price than the £360 a year people have to pay for the current scheme” from September.
The change means an end to the 20% discount on food for subscribers, with the chain saying it “never really got comfortable” with dual pricing.
Given the majority of its customers were not Club Pret subscribers, its priority now was to focus on better value for everyone, it added.
Currently, Club Pret membership offers the perk of ordering up to five barista-made drinks daily for a monthly fee of £30.
Pret also announced that its filter coffee would drop to 99p, and its all butter croissant will also drop to £1.99.
In a letter sent to customers on Thursday, Pret’s managing director Clare Clough said: “It’s almost four years since we introduced our coffee subscription at the height of the pandemic, and I’m proud of the role Club Pret has played for us and our customers since.
“It was an innovative way to reconnect with our loyal customers and introduce Pret to tens of thousands of new ones, bringing customers back into our shops with an offer that almost seemed ‘too good to be true’.
“Four years and over a quarter of a billion coffees later, we have decided that it’s time to rethink how it works.
“So, the current subscription benefits will end in September and be replaced by a new and simpler offer.
“Club Pret subscribers will get 50% off up to five barista-made drinks a day for a reduced monthly fee of £10 – and just £5 for existing and new subscribers until 31 March 2025.
“This also means we will remove the 20% discount on food and get rid of dual pricing across our food products – something we never really got comfortable with.”
Ms Clough added: “We know this is a change. But with Club Pret subscription, our coffees, teas, coolers and iced drinks will continue to be the best offer on the high street, and at a much more accessible price than the £360 a year people have to pay for the current scheme.
“Given the majority of our customers are not Club Pret subscribers, our priority now is to focus on better value for everyone.”
In March, the chain implemented a crackdown to prevent Club Pret subscribers from sharing free drinks with others.
Some customers were exploiting loopholes by sharing subscription benefits, prompting the changes.
Subscribers have since been required to use the app to redeem their complimentary drinks, rather than accessing QR codes via Apple Wallet or smartwatches.
Many aired their concerns, saying the changes made it harder to claim the offer, with some reporting technical issues when trying to access the app.
Others said they had cancelled their subscriptions altogether amid the “faff” the updates had caused, with some questioning how they would be able to access the app if they were in a chain without signal.
Pret’s announcement follows coffee bean prices reaching an all-time high of 4,300 US dollars (£3,356) a tonne last week, amid poor harvests, particularly in the major production areas of Brazil and Vietnam, geopolitical conflict and supply chain disruption.
