Pret to trial UK meal deal as it seeks to repair value proposition after subscription exit

Pret a Manger will trial a UK meal deal in the final three months of this year as part of a push to “double down” on value for customers, the sandwich-and-coffee chain said, testing different price points and formats including a croissant-and-drink option and a sandwich, drink and crisps bundle.

The trials, which are due to start next week, come after Pret this year ended its Club Pret subscription service — a move that followed sustained debate over the financial and operational strain created by the scheme. Pret said the meal-deal tests are part of a medium-term strategy aimed at growing the brand and returning to sustainable profits.

Chief executive Pano Christou said the company’s priority is “offering great value for money.” A Pret spokesperson said the group will monitor customer response to different price points during the trial. The chain faces competition from long-established supermarket meal deals and rivals that have used low-priced bundles to win commuter and office-worker trade.

The meal-deal announcement arrives as Pret seeks to repair relations with parts of its customer base and address operational issues that emerged in recent years. Club Pret, launched in September 2020 at the height of the pandemic to lure customers back into stores, allowed subscribers to claim a number of barista-made drinks for a monthly fee and proved far more popular than executives had anticipated. Company figures cited previously showed the scheme was being used more than a million times per week at its peak, prompting concerns about costs, code-sharing among users and extra pressure on shop staff.

Managers tightened app controls after customers began sharing QR codes and screenshots, and some users reported losing loyalty benefits during updates. Former employees and media reports at the time described intense pressure on front-line teams as demand surged for hot and cold drinks.

Pret’s strategy shift must also be understood against a longer record of challenges and recovery. The chain, founded in 1986 and once a ubiquitous destination for London office workers, saw daily UK coffee sales peak at about 1.4 million and grew to hundreds of locations worldwide. The pandemic hit Pret’s commuter-dependent model hard: the company temporarily closed and later permanently shut dozens of shops, warning in 2020 of “material uncertainties” as footfall evaporated. It closed 74 UK outlets and 22 in the U.S. that year.

The company reported a return to profitability in mid-2024, and has cited growth since 2021 driven by international openings. Pret said sales rose 10 percent in 2024, reaching £1.2 billion for the first time, and that it expects to open nearly 150 locations globally during the year. The group has said it will have more than 500 UK shops by the end of 2024 and plans to expand internationally toward a long-term target of 1,000–1,500 sites.

Alongside commercial setbacks, Pret has confronted reputational and safety crises. In 2016, teenager Natasha Ednan-Laperouse died after suffering a fatal allergic reaction to sesame in an unlabelled baguette sold by Pret. The inquest criticised the company’s labelling practices, and the case contributed to the passage of Natasha’s Law, which requires full ingredient and allergen labelling for foods made on-site. Pret issued public apologies and pledged to improve labelling and allergen procedures.

The chain also scaled back niche formats: Veggie Pret, a vegetarian-only concept introduced nine years earlier, was wound down after a slump in demand for meat-free sandwiches, and some sites were converted to standard Pret stores.

Ownership and management shifts have accompanied the operational changes. Co-founder Julian Metcalfe sold his stake in 2018, and the group is largely owned by JAB Holdings, a Luxembourg-based investment vehicle. Christou has publicly acknowledged that social distancing and changing working patterns have altered consumer habits and said the business had at times “let down” customers it sought to serve.

Analysts note the British sandwich and food-to-go market has not fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels; industry estimates cited by the company put the market at about £7 billion annually, below an earlier peak of roughly £8 billion. Many workers continue hybrid patterns, reducing weekday commuter flows that once underpinned Pret’s busiest locations.

Pret’s meal-deal trial aims to tap into established commuter and lunchtime purchasing habits while presenting a clearer, lower-cost option for shoppers who may have been alienated by recent changes in loyalty offerings. The company said it will run the tests at selected sites and assess results before any broader roll-out. The move follows other quick-service brands’ reassessments of subscription and loyalty formats in recent years.

Pret’s spokesperson reiterated that value is a central plank of the chain’s medium-term plan and said experiments with pricing and combinations will inform future offers. The company’s financial and expansion targets hinge in part on restoring regular footfall and winning back customers who migrated elsewhere or reduced visits after the pandemic and during subscription-related disruption.

As the trials proceed, Pret will be observed for how swiftly it can balance competitive pricing with service consistency across its outlets, and whether the meal deal restores lapsed customers and eases pressure on front-line teams.