Pret A Manger: Why prices rises are ‘inevitable’ after surviving ‘near-death crisis’
The boss of Pret A Manger in the UK has revealed the tough economic reality the country is currently facing means it is “inevitable” that some prices will have to be increased.
Clare Clough admitted recent years have been “challenging” for the high street staple but that the brand’s number one priority is to find other ways to deal with rising costs.
The managing director added that Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ decision to increase the National Minimum Wage is having a “significant impact” on the chain.
But despite the clear financial pressure Pret A Manger is facing, along with businesses across the UK, the MD said the chain would never save costs by reducing portion sizes or the quality of ingredients.
It is understood that Pret A Manger is not planning to increase prices during the rest of 2025.
‘We win or lose by our customers’ choice to shop with us or not’
Speaking on an up-coming episode of CityAM’s Boardroom Uncovered podcast, Clough said: “It’s been a challenging few years – it’s no secret that the global pandemic hit us quite hard.
“Being very city centric and transport locations, it was a big impact to the business. But you couldn’t go round it. You had to go through it.
“So being part of leading the business out of the post-pandemic period has been challenging, but it has actually been very rewarding as well.
“I feel very proud of the shape that the business is in today and the way that we’ve recovered after such a near-death crisis.
“We’re trying to put the customer at the centre of all of our decision making.
“We win or lose by our customers’ choice to shop with us or not. So we just have to remain mindful of that and take measured decisions.”
Pret A Manger boss: ‘Inevitable’ that prices will rise
Pret A Manger’s UK boss added that because of the current levels of inflation in the market, “from time to time we have to pass some of that on”.
But she said “as far as possible, we try and find ways to mitigate that”.
When asked whether it is inevitable that companies like Pret have to pass on some of the increased cost to the customer, the MD said: “We have inflation in every part of the market. It sometimes does become inevitable.
“But our responsibility first is to look at what we can do to offset that or mitigate as we can and our teams have been working really hard to do that.
“The National Minimum Wage increase has a significant impact on a business that employs thousands of people.
“But we want to make sure that we find ways to work around that as far as possible and from time to time with inflation in wages and ingredients, does that result in some price increases? Yes it does.
“But our first priority is to try and avoid that being passed on directly to the customers.
“We work really hard with our suppliers to look at ways that we can drive efficiencies into our supply chain.
“For example, I’m really proud to say we never do that by reducing portion sizes or quality of ingredients.
“But we do look at ways to be more efficient together and we also take the advantage of the growth in the new openings that we have to drive those efficiencies into the supply chain.”