Pret a Manger has brought back its co-founder in a boardroom shakeup at the coffee chain, as it grapples with tech chaos sparked by a revamp of its subscription service.
Sinclair Beecham, who co-founded the sandwich and coffee business with Julian Metcalfe in 1986, will return in a bid to help the chain “reaffirm Pret’s mission” to focus on customers.
Mr Beecham and Mr Metcalfe opened their first Pret store on London’s Victoria Street after buying the name and assets from a collapsed coffee shop.
The store sold sandwiches and meals made on site, contrasting with what Mr Metcalfe has previously called “very grim” options for takeaway dining at the time.
The return of Mr Beecham to Pret comes amid anger from customers over a major change in Pret’s popular subscription service, enacted to crack down on a loophole that allowed users to share free coffees with friends and colleagues.
The chain began forcing customers using its subscription service, which offers five hot drinks per day for a monthly fee of £30, to log in through its app earlier this year.
However, since the change, customers have run into technical difficulties, while those without smartphones have been effectively locked out at the same time.
As part of the shake-up, Olivier Goudet, Pret’s chairman, has stepped down although he will remain on its board. He will be replaced by Konrad Meyer, a veteran of Pret’s parent company, the German private equity firm JAB Holdings, which bought Pret in 2018 in a £1.5bn deal.
Mr Meyer said: “We are very proud of the transformation of Pret over the past few years, and we remain focused on the essence of Pret: happy teams and happy customers, and serving people with the Joy of Pret.
“As a final step in leaving the pandemic behind, we are implementing plans to reduce debt.”
Pret has also been forced into a change of strategy in the wake of the pandemic.
The rise of working from home has made city centre sites less pivotal for sales, leading the chain to focus more on opening sites in towns, suburbs and more rural areas. More than half of new Pret stores opened since January 2022 have been outside London.
However, the chain’s prices have come under fire after they rose significantly during the cost of living crisis.
Earlier this year, Pret brought down the price of a number of best-selling sandwiches and said it would do this “wherever possible” as inflation eases.
Price rises helped Pret return to profit in 2022, after posting a £225m loss during the pandemic. Since then it has embarked on a rapid expansion across the UK and other countries such as Germany, Luxembourg, Italy and India.
The chain is hoping to grow its UK estate from some 450 stores to around 500 in 2024.
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
