Pret a Manger is upping the cost of its subscription service by a fifth – but adding a 10% discount on food and snacks alongside free drinks to the offer from Wednesday – as the sandwich chain warns that the “inflationary challenge” remains.
Its chief executive, Pano Christou, said Pret a Manger may have to put wages up again this year – after a 19% rise in the past year – amid stiff competition for workers.
“We will continue to look after our people in this very challenging time,” he said. Christou claimed Pret did not have staffing issues as its pay was “more attractive than the competition”.
The company’s costs have jumped, with the wholesale price of milk paid by Pret up 16%, coffee 48% and crisps 125%. It has dropped some products, such as a salmon and mango salad, as a 40% rise in the price of salmon was too much for customers to bear. The price of a latte has gone up just under 12% year on year, from £2.95 to £3.30.
“We are in an inflationary challenge right now.” Christou said. “We are not passing everything on and we are not seeing the same sort of percentage of inflation as the supermarkets.”
Pret’s subscription service, which first launched in September 2020, will be rebranded Club Pret and will now cost £30 a month, up from £25. It will include up to five barista-prepared drinks a day – the same as under the existing subscription offer – as well as 10% off everything else sold in Pret’s stores, except at some service stations.
Drinks included in the offer are coffee, tea, hot chocolate and iced drinks. Pret stopped making smoothies and frappes, which were previously included in the subscription, this month. However, a new range of shakes will be included when they launch in July.
Pret, which has 439 stores in the UK and employs almost 8,000 staff, says its subscription service, which increased in price from £20 a month to £25 last year, is redeemed 1.25m times a week – up 11% year-on-year.
The deal launches as Pret sales continue to sit below pre-pandemic levels, with stores particularly quiet on Fridays. Christou said recent strike action on public transport and at schools had hit sales, as they had interrupted people’s plans. The cost of living crisis has also prompted customers to rein in on deliveries and be careful about their food choices – although they are spending more at weekends after more days at home for many.
