16 ms·

The Rise and Fall of Pret a Manger

100 points by Oras 6y ago

mytailorisrich 6y ago
We need to wait and see how things develop. Even if people continue to WFH in the long term, I think many would still like to buy Pret a Manger (and others) products because it's not because people are at home that they necessarily want to cook their lunch every day or don't want to buy snacks. So there may be an opportunity to adapt and perhaps we'll have Pret a Manger vans driving around in residential areas like ice cream vans do on sunny weekends. People have been saving on this and the hugely expensive train fares (around London) and realise how much more cash they have left at the end of the month, which also explains why they don't want to go back to office. But that means that there is an opportunity for new services to make people spend that cash.
- untog 6y ago
  > So there may be an opportunity to adapt and perhaps we'll have Pret a Manger vans driving around in residential areas I actually love this idea but I question whether Pret will be the people to do it. They're set up all wrong now: they have a huge number of retail properties in locations useless for residential area delivery! I'd suspect the market is open for a new challenger to arrive with no such overhead.
- xwdv 6y ago
  Let people keep their newfound cash and invest it for the future, hard times are ahead for many of them.
- hankchinaski 6y ago
  man i am so happy not to have to spend for overpriced tiny sandwiches for lunch when i can cook something at home which is both healthier and cheaper - combined with the crazy expensive transport i am saving on, i wish WFH continues as long as possible!
- laumars 6y ago
  I couldn’t see that making up the shortfall. For starters a great many of London’s workforce don’t live inside the M25 so wouldn’t be eligible / viable for delivery. Then you have the issue that a lot of people would still prefer to cook for themselves. And this isn’t exactly a new market either, thanks to the likes of Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat. So there’s already a lot of competition.
- itisit 6y ago
  | We need to wait and see how things develop. But these headlines need armchair prognoses now!
renewiltord 6y ago
Fast eats like this are total rubbish in the UK. Don't know why. SF is so much better. Walk downstairs, grab a quick sandwich at Working Girls, or Specialty's (now dead), or Chipotle. Pret is like 7-Eleven food. Probably for the best that it dies. Fortunately, lots of food carts out in London that'll benefit.
- notJim 6y ago
  First time I saw one was when I was interviewing in NYC. I walked in and grabbed a sandwich and couldn't believe what dry flavorless garbage it was. 7-Eleven is honestly a step up.
  - renewiltord 6y ago
    It's like someone saw bottom tier airline food and said "You know what? This would be great in a store". As far as I can tell, they leverage store location.
- JoeAltmaier 6y ago
  Hm not surprised, from a country that has special racks to 'cool the toast'. So they don't have to eat it warm. So its properly cold and stale.
  - laumars 6y ago
    There’s plenty of great places to eat in the U.K., and London especially.
    - renewiltord 6y ago
      Yeah, London is a great place for food. I only take exception to Pret.
  - kybernetikos 6y ago
    Toast racks are not to cool toast, they're to stop it from going soggy. If you stack toast, the moisture from the toast below in the stack makes most of the stack soggy. Racking it lets the steam escape. You still eat the toast warm, just not wet. If you find yourself without a toast rack, you can lean them against each other as if you're starting to make a house of cards to keep them crisp.
lordnacho 6y ago
My guess from chatting to some of the people in the stores is there's gonna be a bloodbath. Your average food shop is running on what kind of margin? Maybe 20% at best, 15% more commonly? I chatted with a guy who says his business is down 90%. The guy at Subway said something similar. Before the apocalypse, the business made sense because of the sheer number of people walking by. You could pay for the food, the labour, and the landlord, reliably, because there are so many jobs based in central London. Now that WFH has been "discovered" it's doubtful. I mean if everyone works from home just one day a week, that's 20% fewer sandwiches they will need to buy.
- iratewizard 6y ago
  To be cynical, that's what it looks like when the status quo chooses its victims. This time it hits close to home for everyone because we're all familiar with this sort of loss.
  - gruez 6y ago
    >To be cynical, that's what it looks like when the status quo chooses its victims. What do you mean by this? What's the status quo? WFH? the pandemic?
    - iratewizard 6y ago
      The status quo is the current state of affairs. It's always behind the scenes picking its victims.
- Chris_Newton 6y ago
  Now that WFH has been "discovered" it's doubtful. I mean if everyone works from home just one day a week, that's 20% fewer sandwiches they will need to buy. I’m not so sure. Just because you’re working from home, that doesn’t mean you want to spend a significant amount of time shopping for and preparing lots of different things for your lunches. If you were OK with that, you could easily have taken a packed lunch to work before and probably saved quite a bit of money, but the existence of the sandwich shop as a concept suggests that plenty of people prefer the convenience and variety they offer. What I do expect to see now is a rebalancing of where these places are found. Not so long ago, we moved from a busy area of Cambridge (UK) to a village a few miles outside the city. Life is different here, but better in most ways. We don’t have a Pret sandwich place or a Wetherspoons pub here. We do have a couple of local cafés and a baker, though, and several other pubs. We also get something I had only noticed in passing while living in the city, which is the food trucks that travel around and set up in a different spot each evening. Each truck typically has its own speciality cuisine and they’re great if you want something interesting for dinner. As far as I can tell, these are all independent small businesses, often run by the owners. We were worried for them during the months when almost everything was closed down because of the virus, but fortunately they made it through and now they seem to be thriving, presumably because they’re well placed to serve a suddenly-larger local market. I have nothing against Pret. I've eaten there many times when I’ve been travelling for work or shopping for a while in a big place. But almost everything is better about those local businesses I mentioned. If the strange circumstances this year cause a permanent change in our lifestyles and if that makes local catering more viable at the expense of the big convenience chains aimed at a commuting workforce, I find it hard to see a downside, at least in the long term after a possibly disruptive period of change. The trade and jobs will probably still be there, just in smaller businesses serving their own communities.
vvilliamperez 6y ago
I saw these all over New York in Christmas 2019. Ended up grabbing a bite to eat and was pretty impressed with the food. Definitely fills a market gap for fast, small, semi-healthy food. No oversized combo meals there.
partisan 6y ago
I’ve had pret in London on a brief visit. I had the Peking duck wrap. It was delicious and I had it as often as I could during that trip. I came back to nyc with a healthy respect for pret and often ate from there at my last job. I will miss it, personally speaking, but I understand when others see it as unworthy of eating. That is why a market with variety is so important, different tastes are served by those who serve them best.
throrthaway 6y ago
Just in case people don't know, although the name sounds French I've literally never seen one in France. I guess it's like Mexico's Taco Bell or something
- regnamehtnidog 6y ago
  The article mentions that it's an English chain. The name is a pun on the fashion term "prêt-à-porter" which is often used in English. See https://www.net-a-porter.com/ https://www.net-a-porter.com/ for another example of a brand that riffs on the term without being French.
  - 205guy 6y ago
    I wanted to say the same. I will add that because "prêt-à-porter" is a fashion term, it would be somewhat familiar to London city office workers, especially the upscale demographic they target with their prices and marketing.
- barry-cotter 6y ago
  Up until 20 years ago a foreign language was compulsory in UK secondary schools through the equivalent of US high school. The default foreign language that virtually every school would teach was French, with other languages usually being a nice to have. There’d be the occasional school that taught German but not French. Up until very recently it could be assumed that virtually every educated Briton could read French to a low level. And up until the 70s at least not being able to speak French on some level would have been vaguely embarrassing for middle class strivers. Writing things in French is not a claim to be from France, it’s a class thing.
  - Chris_Newton 6y ago
    Meanwhile, elsewhere in Europe, speaking multiple languages to a useful level is completely normal. They really are much better at that than we (Brits) are, and the decision to drop the language requirements we did have in schools has always seemed like a backward step to me. I doubt Pret’s name really makes much difference to who it appeals to, though. It’s a well-known brand, but if you’re selling sandwiches and coffees for those prices as an everyday thing, you are clearly aiming for a certain type of customer anyway.
crazygringo 6y ago
As an American, I've always been so confused by Pret's sandwiches. Specifically, how they're like 95% bread. Seriously. You get their "famous ham and cheese" and it's a mini baguette with like a single layer of ham and cheese. Like the ham and cheese is a condiment, rather than filling. It's a stretch to call what they sell "sandwiches". It's closer to just flavored bread. And remember -- it's not just sugar that increases the risk for diabetes, but massive amounts of processed carbs, exactly like Pret. I'll take my corner deli please, where a sandwich is more like a balanced meal: an actual full serving of protein inside, with lots of tomatoes, peppers and lettuce too.
- ggm 6y ago
  I've eaten both european and american sandwiches. American ones are certainly better "value for money" but only in the sense that they typically feed a family of four. They're kind-of excessive. the US didn't invent the foot-long sub for no reason, worldwide obesity scores had to be earned.
  - thomasahle 6y ago
    > the foot-long sub It's meant for two people: https://youtu.be/Hvzw7MOFhQo https://youtu.be/Hvzw7MOFhQo
  - crazygringo 6y ago
    > that they typically feed a family of four That's true of some things at American sit-down restaurants. But hardly true for a cold sandwich at a sandwich shop. Even a Subway "footlong" club sandwich is just 620 calories. Assuming a 2,000 cal/day diet, that's a little under a third of what you need. Or, in other words, exactly the right size for a balanced lunch if your calorie requirements are on the lesser side. How exactly does 620 calories feed a family of four? Or how is it excessive at all? Obviously it goes without saying the sandwich is the complete meal (no adding soda or chips).
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
JustARandomGuy 6y ago
American here (work in downtown Chicago), I used to get Pret several times a week as one of their stores was right next door to my office. They have delicious sandwiches, bakery items, and fruit cups, but it's very expensive - a croissant and a breakfast sandwich ran close to $10. It's a great place if you want to eat healthy and have a short lunch time, but there are better options to deliver from if you're WFH.
- mortenjorck 6y ago
  I'll miss them. (If you're not aware, Pret permanently closed all its Chicago locations except UChicago last month: https://chicago.eater.com/2020/8/24/21396276/pret-a-manger-sandwich-grab-and-go-chain-closed-chicago-pandemic-dandds-place-doughnuts-fundraiser https://chicago.eater.com/2020/8/24/21396276/pret-a-manger-s...) I just hope Chicgao's own euro-style sandwich chain Hannah's Bretzel survives.
  - celim307 6y ago
    Hannah’s is even more expensive
    - shanemlk 6y ago
      but tastes better per dollar
  - JustARandomGuy 6y ago
    Wow, TIL! Thanks for the link. I haven't been in downtown Chicago since the middle of March; my employer is keeping us at home until at least 2021.
- wirthjason 6y ago
  I was working on a side project with a friend and after work we would meet at the Pret by Union Station and have a cup of coffee and discuss. Just before Pret closed someone would come in with a large plastic bag and clear out all the racks of sandwiches. I assumed these were donations for a food pantry or shelter. I couldn’t believe the waste. It made me feel like they wouldn’t be so expensive if they weren’t throwing so much away. It’s probably a fraction of their operating costs but it made a huge mental impact on how I view their business. I did love the graphic design on their marketing. It was very creative.
AznHisoka 6y ago
I always read the name as “Pet a Manager” which makes me never want to step inside one.
- legerdemain 6y ago
  Luckily, the name just means "ready to eat" in French. Perhaps they could have done like Panera and renamed themselves to something that wouldn't upset easily confused American diners?
  - TeMPOraL 6y ago
    I always misread it the same way and I'm Polish. English misreads confuse everyone, not just Brits and Americans, because for better or worse, English is the international language. Lingua franca, to make an obvious pun.
    - pbhjpbhj 6y ago
      OT: 'Lingua franca' might be my favourite term. AIUI its a Portuguese term to refer to the 'Frankish language', the Franks being Germanic (not Gallic; somewhat akin to the situation of Angles and Britons) and somehow it's used normally to refer to English [not exclusively ofc, there are many lingua franca]. We could just say 'common tongue', but that's just not the English [Language] way - far too simple.
  - alfu 6y ago
    It confuses me because the accents are 'missing' (prêt-à-manger). I wonder if people more familiar with French are better at interpolating accents.
dreen 6y ago
While I agree with other posters here that Pret has overpriced mediocre food the standard coffee they offer is IMHO better than at every other similar place. That includes Starbucks, Nero, Costa etc OTOH, I havent bought a single cup since March since Im getting my beans from Pact.
- lvturner 6y ago
  Honestly, and I appreciate that this might be controversial, but the best quality to price ratio coffee I have ever found, belongs to McDonald's - while it might not be the best, it's perfectly drinkable and it's consistent store to store, country to country. (Though, it is gross with whatever 'milk' they use - I only drink it black)
Gustek 6y ago
I used to work at the Pret during my student years. All employees, we were very puzzled by why Pret is so popular and why are they willing to pay so much for the food. Today with a better-paid job, when in the centre and need to get a quick snack, Pret is often my choice. End of the day they have good food and offer good service. You hear many stories about people who used to work for McD and they say they will never eat there again. I can confidently say that at Pret, I did not see any red flags that would make me not eat there. I wonder how the subscription idea will work for them. Pret is a sandwich shop, but most of the profit comes from coffee. When I used to work there, the price of a coffee was £2, and the cost was £0.20. I guess they expect most people to not max out on the offer, which is probably a reasonable assumption. At the time, we were told the reason Pret does not offer free coffee after N transactions is because they want to make a customer feel special when they get free coffee. That's why all employees are allowed to give free coffee to anyone at their discretion, just not too many :) Sounds like it is about to change.
- philjackson 6y ago
  That free coffee thing. I used to go to a Pret frequently with one of my female colleagues who happened to be very traditionally attractive. She got a free coffee from male staff every single time.
- chrisseaton 6y ago
  > All employees, we were very puzzled by why Pret is so popular and why are they willing to pay so much for the food. What's was puzzling about it? They're reasonably nice and fresh sandwiches in a nice room for not a lot of money. And as you knew yourself it seems clean too.
  - danpalmer 6y ago
    The sandwiches are twice the price of a supermarket sandwich, and for many (especially students working at Pret) the idea of buying lunch out rather than making it at home and bringing it in may be a luxury. If you're on £16k a year, spending £1000 for a sandwich every day for lunch is a lot (£4 sandwich * 250 working days).
porknubbins 6y ago
I always thought their almond croissants were really good. It makes sense they are from London because Europeans, even the UK seem to take baked goods more seriously than the US.
- vinay427 6y ago
  Is it that surprising that Europeans have higher standards for European foods, or at least the ones local to them? Foreign imports will always be seen as specialty items that tend to be overpriced and usually few and far between. You might find good European bread options in the US if you're willing to spend far more time and money to travel to that one bakery in town that has higher standards, but most people won't bother.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
EricE 6y ago
I'm so glad I never was a snacker - just from the cost savings alone (never mind the savings in the size of my waist too)
scubbo 6y ago
I can honestly say that, aside from "good pubs", Pret a Manger is the thing I miss most having moved from London to San Francisco. There's just nothing like it for quick, easy, good coffee-and-premade-food (or I just haven't found it - in which case, please consider this a masterful invocation of Cunningham's Law).
- 0max 6y ago
  I think SF is more of a burrito and onigiri type of town. Some of my favorite grab and go spots are Asian grocery stores.
  - 082349872349872 6y ago
    Burritos make an excellent substitute for Döner. Onigiri look like what happens to picnic loaves when they reach islands at the other end of eurasia?
    - robotmay 6y ago
      I think of onigiri as a Japanese variant of the Cornish Pasty. I imagine it does have similar roots: making an edible wrapper for food that preserves it until lunch.
  - scubbo 6y ago
    And it's very good indeed at those things!
kps 6y ago
Ah, if HN readers are fascinated by Pret a Manger, wait 'til they hear about J Lyons tea shops.
- recursive 6y ago
  And here I've only just heard of Pret a Manger. That's after I misread it as "a Pret manager", which was equally nonsensical.
- Lio 6y ago
  Don’t knock Lyons, they made the world’s first business computer[1] for those tea shops ...and they sell crumpets. This would be like finding out Pret had a side gig in quantum computing ...and crumpets. 1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/LEO_(computer) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/LEO_(computer)
  - kps 6y ago
    Yes, LEO was the point. A chain of English tea shops were bleeding-edge pioneers of computing.
tony 6y ago
If you like this subject, you may like the Company Man on YouTube. Specifically, they have a playlist for "Company declines" on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9_9_unNR_e7MU1-fJy9B3GFgFkNojs13 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9_9_unNR_e7MU1-fJy9B... Covers: Kmart, Blockbuster, RadioShack, Toys R Us, Pan Am, Kodak, Sear, Payless, Hostess, Nokia, Quiznos
- throwaway83383 6y ago
  Why does the guy who makes those half-laugh at every other sentence of his own script?
switch11 6y ago
Pret a Manger 1) Amazing food 2) Very nicely set up 3) Just read the blogs etc. that London women write about Pret a Manger. In their minds it's the kind of place where they can get good food and also find 'the man of their dreams' 4) very little real competition 5) most people have a decent amount of disposable income. You can eat utter rubbish at a fast food joint, or you can terrible tasting food from a convenience store, or you can eat at a good place like Pret a Manger 6) Quick * They do a lot of things right If your target audience has money, then providing them a high quality service and pricing it higher is good It's also a big help if the pricing ensures that only upwardly mobile people can afford it Go into a fish and chips in london and you have half of East London in there, innit? go to Pret a Manger and it's people you wouldn't mind having a pint at the pub with
- tluyben2 6y ago
  1) matter of taste I would say; I find it quite horrible. Miles removed from something like Le Pain Quotidien, but yeah matter of taste. When working for a client in London I would rather skip lunch vs eat the plastic Pret serves. Or, you know, actually go to the pub and have a pint.
  - chrisseaton 6y ago
    > matter of taste I would say; I find it quite horrible. Miles removed from something like Le Pain Quotidien, but yeah matter of taste. When working for a client in London I would rather skip lunch vs eat the plastic Pret serves. It's just bread, salad, vegetables, meat, butter, prepared conventionally. You're talking about it like it's some kind of synthetic replacement? It's just normal fresh ingredients. I'm not sure it's possible for them to be doing it so bad as to justify your reaction.
    - tluyben2 6y ago
      I'm talking about that it all taste horrible and fake to me. I know they say it's handmade and fresh but all I had (in center of London and on Gatwick airport) tasted tired and artificial and it being wrapped in tons of plastic does not help. This compared to other places (around the corner usually), where it's freshly prepared (so the baguette or sandwich cut and your toppings added, not premade) in front of you and put in a paper bag or in nothing if you eat it straight away. If you put the condiments on the sandwich and wrap it and put it in a cooler (like Pret does), the moist will make it just soggy crap. Even my local supermarket bakes baguettes all day long instead of 'driving them in' in the morning and being 'maximally 1 day old' according to Pret (which is contested all over the web but let's say 1 day old max is true); 10+ hours is far too old for bread with toppings wrapped in plastic), IMHO. I understand this should be much cheaper to run, but, for instance, my supermarket is cheaper still and nicer, so the cheap (looking, feeling, tasting) factor of premaking everything does not reflect in the prices. Which is, again, the matter of taste; some people like those soggy things. Maybe you do too or you have a different experience because you went to a US one or one that has different facilities (maybe in other countries they are better; I cannot believe French or Belgian people would eat this quality food while surrounded by freshness)? I went more than once to different ones and it was all equally bad. Especially when you are in London, there are far more superior places around every corner (even at the airport; Jamie's / Wagamama are next door, why would you ever...). I just rather skip a meal than eat a bad one, which is fine I think. Even most of the images make me cringe [0]. And most of these images are pro images and promotion images; the soggy gunk in my hands didn't look this 'nice'. This for instance [1] would be a reason to go; however, they pulled it because this pic is not real; the real thing was... not good, hence they pulled it (ofcourse the bread is bad if you trying to emulate a french feel but then prepack it). While the Le Pain version [2] is always spot on; nice baguettes, consistent quality and not premade. Disclaimer: I can only speak for the London Prets as I worked close to one (at a bank) there and went a few times with my colleagues until deciding it was too horrible to actually eat. And only went to the HK Le Pain; I didn't know they had them in London, but seems they do (at least before Covid). If you only care about how quick it is, then, yes, it's quick; I don't however; I care about the taste and quality. And like I said; it's taste, can't really agree/disagree (or justify as you say), just chat about it; you have a different taste than I have; that's fine; it's not worse or better or whatever; it's probably more convenient (I am very picky about what I eat; it has to be good always, which is why I cook/make most of what I eat myself for the past 20 years, including baking bread (not bread machine; by hand)) to be you, but I seek convenience/saving time in other things. [0] https://www.google.com/search?q=pret+manger+sandwich&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwiOs9e-4_TrAhXOgM4BHW2sDkoQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=pret+manger+sandwich&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzIECCMQJzIECCMQJzICCAAyBggAEAgQHjIGCAAQCBAeMgYIABAIEB4yBggAEAgQHjIGCAAQCBAeMgQIABAYUOVaWOVaYLRcaABwAHgAgAF1iAF1kgEDMC4xmAEAoAEBqgELZ3dzLXdpei1pbWfAAQE&sclient=img&ei=F75lX87LLc6Bur4P7di60AQ&bih=845&biw=1660 https://www.google.com/search?q=pret+manger+sandwich&tbm=isc... [1] https://london.eater.com/2019/10/25/20931811/pret-manger-jambon-beurre-sandwich-discontinued https://london.eater.com/2019/10/25/20931811/pret-manger-jam... [2] https://www.openrice.com/en/hongkong/p-le-pain-quotidien-p5460093 https://www.openrice.com/en/hongkong/p-le-pain-quotidien-p54... > It's just bread, salad, vegetables, meat, butter, prepared conventionally. Some reading materials: https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2142241/uk-ad-watchdog-doesnt-swallow-pret-mangers-natural-sandwiches-made https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2142241/uk-ad... https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/12/pret-a-manger-marketing https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/12/pret-a... Nothing conventional about it unless you mean mass manufacturing, added chemicals and storing it for a day are conventional for a fresh made sandwich with toppings. Maybe they are in some places, not here though.
jessaustin 6y ago
The changes described in TFA seem like good ideas, but one would have expected to read of them in May rather than September.
pkaye 6y ago
In Silicon valley there was a chain called Specialty's Cafe and Bakery. They shut down permanently after the pandemic but it was very common place for offices to order meals for lunch meetings. The sandwiches were bland but the cookies were always nice.
- rswail 6y ago
  "after the pandemic"... this sounds like a message left by a time traveller.
kpozin 6y ago
When I was in London on vacation nine years ago, Pret shops were a godsend. I think at least half of my lunches and dinners were Pret sandwiches, as I was generally running around and didn't have time or energy for much else. After they became popular in NYC a few years later, I tried them a couple of times but didn't find nearly as good a selection of healthy options as in London.
lancewiggs 6y ago
Perhaps they could consider opening up in New Zealand. Plenty of folks with UK experience would jump at the chance for quality fast lunch.
- mrkwse 6y ago
  I'm assuming you're from NZ? Given the greater degree of success NZ is having, are offices still filled there, with little change to pre-COVID?
genmon 6y ago
Related: this is a great long read in the Guardian about the emergence of the lunch sandwich in the UK. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/24/how-the-sandwich-consumed-britain https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/24/how-the-sandwic... One nugget: the lunch sandwich was invented by M&S in the early 1990s, and it was immediately hugely popular. Yet management missed the chance to capitalise on it by opening standalone sandwich shops. A lesson in organisational inertia, leading to a business missing a huge new opportunity right under their noses. My view: businesses should compensate for this by doubling-down by default on any form of enlargement that works, deliberately not considering overall strategy. The limit to consider strategic implications should be higher than it currently is.
james412 6y ago
Pret and Itsu (same founders) have been my default shops for many years because you simply don't have to think, walking in and out in under 2 minutes is absolutely to be expected, and if you're a bit autistic and enjoy routine, can have precisely the same choc bar + coffee + salad + sandwich with identical consistency on every single visit Their food is hardly amazing, but it is wonderfully consistent. Truly hope they survive and flourish once more, London simply would not be the same without them
- mprovost 6y ago
  Dominic Raab (currently the UK's foreign secretary) is (in)famous for having the same Pret meal for lunch every (working) day: a chicken caesar and bacon baguette, with a pot of fruit and the same smoothie. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/apr/26/is-it-weird-to-eat-the-same-sandwich-for-lunch-every-day https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/apr/26/is-it-w...
j7ake 6y ago
I don't normally like sandwiches, but Pret a Manger has managed to make many of their sandwiches very tasty. I think they manage to balance the right flavors. Off the top of my head e.g. pickled red onions for sour, cheese/meat for salty, roasted tomatoes and chutney for sweet. Ingredients they use aren't necessarily fancy or expensive, but they balance them appropriately and consistently.
deleted 6y ago
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lkramer 6y ago
I never understood the British sandwich culture. I'm currently living and working London and the number of times people will just go for a quick sandwich, which typically means some depressing mayo filled abomination with a packet of crisps and a softdrink is depressing when there are genuinely nice places to have lunch, for not much more. What is even more mind boggling is when you work with British people abroad at places with genuinely great food culture, like Tokyo or Singapore, and they then lament that there is 'no where around to get decent sandwich`, by which they mean their industrially produced cardboard tasting abomination, since typically you can get actually good sandwiches in those places as well as a variety of other thing.
- mahesh_rm 6y ago
  It is not clear to me whether you are referring to Pret's sandwiches. I am not British, but when in London for work I tend to love Pret's. I found their offering healthier and tastier than basically any other fast food alternative in any other place in the world.
- dageshi 6y ago
  For some people, perhaps a lot of people, many meals are just fuel. Those sandwiches are an acceptable unit of fuel, they come in an acceptable variety at acceptable prices and can be bought in an acceptable amount of time. You don't have to make decisions about what to order, you don't have to queue (or at least not for very long), it's acceptable fuel.
  - wenc 6y ago
    This. There are individuals and cultures with the food as fuel mentality and it works for them. I have many friends who are like this. I’m decidedly the opposite - more of a food as culture and as something to be appreciated kind of person. I think we need all kinds. But I’d also rather work in the UK but eat in Italy. (To be fair, Indian food in the UK is top notch)
- Accacin 6y ago
  What's to understand? I saw people at lunch eating wrapped rice things in Japan from the 7/11 which weren't that great compared to other places I could eat (especially the 'fresh' ones which were easy to find), but people still ate them. In Singapore there were amazing food centers, and I saw Singaporeans eating at McDonald's! Why were they doing that when there were so many good options about? I've never understood why people are so judgemental about what others eat.
beck5 6y ago
I would love to see pret move out a bit further where people live and WFH, or even have a delivery truck which works the local area. My partner and myself both WFH in Peckham, we would love to buy a couple of sandwiches and coffees from pret via an app. We get the occasional falafel wrap on just eat but there are not enough quick delivery options for healthyish lunches.

100 points by Oras 6y ago

We need to wait and see how things develop. Even if people continue to WFH in the long term, I think many would still like to buy Pret a Manger (and others) products because it's not because people are at home that they necessarily want to cook their lunch every day or don't want to buy snacks. So there may be an opportunity to adapt and perhaps we'll have Pret a Manger vans driving around in residential areas like ice cream vans do on sunny weekends. People have been saving on this and the hugely expensive train fares (around London) and realise how much more cash they have left at the end of the month, which also explains why they don't want to go back to office. But that means that there is an opportunity for new services to make people spend that cash.

untog 6y ago
> So there may be an opportunity to adapt and perhaps we'll have Pret a Manger vans driving around in residential areas I actually love this idea but I question whether Pret will be the people to do it. They're set up all wrong now: they have a huge number of retail properties in locations useless for residential area delivery! I'd suspect the market is open for a new challenger to arrive with no such overhead.
xwdv 6y ago
Let people keep their newfound cash and invest it for the future, hard times are ahead for many of them.
hankchinaski 6y ago
man i am so happy not to have to spend for overpriced tiny sandwiches for lunch when i can cook something at home which is both healthier and cheaper - combined with the crazy expensive transport i am saving on, i wish WFH continues as long as possible!
laumars 6y ago
I couldn’t see that making up the shortfall. For starters a great many of London’s workforce don’t live inside the M25 so wouldn’t be eligible / viable for delivery. Then you have the issue that a lot of people would still prefer to cook for themselves. And this isn’t exactly a new market either, thanks to the likes of Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat. So there’s already a lot of competition.
itisit 6y ago
| We need to wait and see how things develop. But these headlines need armchair prognoses now!

renewiltord 6y ago

Fast eats like this are total rubbish in the UK. Don't know why. SF is so much better. Walk downstairs, grab a quick sandwich at Working Girls, or Specialty's (now dead), or Chipotle. Pret is like 7-Eleven food. Probably for the best that it dies. Fortunately, lots of food carts out in London that'll benefit.

notJim 6y ago
First time I saw one was when I was interviewing in NYC. I walked in and grabbed a sandwich and couldn't believe what dry flavorless garbage it was. 7-Eleven is honestly a step up.
- renewiltord 6y ago
  It's like someone saw bottom tier airline food and said "You know what? This would be great in a store". As far as I can tell, they leverage store location.
JoeAltmaier 6y ago
Hm not surprised, from a country that has special racks to 'cool the toast'. So they don't have to eat it warm. So its properly cold and stale.
- laumars 6y ago
  There’s plenty of great places to eat in the U.K., and London especially.
  - renewiltord 6y ago
    Yeah, London is a great place for food. I only take exception to Pret.
- kybernetikos 6y ago
  Toast racks are not to cool toast, they're to stop it from going soggy. If you stack toast, the moisture from the toast below in the stack makes most of the stack soggy. Racking it lets the steam escape. You still eat the toast warm, just not wet. If you find yourself without a toast rack, you can lean them against each other as if you're starting to make a house of cards to keep them crisp.

lordnacho 6y ago

My guess from chatting to some of the people in the stores is there's gonna be a bloodbath. Your average food shop is running on what kind of margin? Maybe 20% at best, 15% more commonly? I chatted with a guy who says his business is down 90%. The guy at Subway said something similar. Before the apocalypse, the business made sense because of the sheer number of people walking by. You could pay for the food, the labour, and the landlord, reliably, because there are so many jobs based in central London. Now that WFH has been "discovered" it's doubtful. I mean if everyone works from home just one day a week, that's 20% fewer sandwiches they will need to buy.

iratewizard 6y ago
To be cynical, that's what it looks like when the status quo chooses its victims. This time it hits close to home for everyone because we're all familiar with this sort of loss.
- gruez 6y ago
  >To be cynical, that's what it looks like when the status quo chooses its victims. What do you mean by this? What's the status quo? WFH? the pandemic?
  - iratewizard 6y ago
    The status quo is the current state of affairs. It's always behind the scenes picking its victims.
Chris_Newton 6y ago
Now that WFH has been "discovered" it's doubtful. I mean if everyone works from home just one day a week, that's 20% fewer sandwiches they will need to buy. I’m not so sure. Just because you’re working from home, that doesn’t mean you want to spend a significant amount of time shopping for and preparing lots of different things for your lunches. If you were OK with that, you could easily have taken a packed lunch to work before and probably saved quite a bit of money, but the existence of the sandwich shop as a concept suggests that plenty of people prefer the convenience and variety they offer. What I do expect to see now is a rebalancing of where these places are found. Not so long ago, we moved from a busy area of Cambridge (UK) to a village a few miles outside the city. Life is different here, but better in most ways. We don’t have a Pret sandwich place or a Wetherspoons pub here. We do have a couple of local cafés and a baker, though, and several other pubs. We also get something I had only noticed in passing while living in the city, which is the food trucks that travel around and set up in a different spot each evening. Each truck typically has its own speciality cuisine and they’re great if you want something interesting for dinner. As far as I can tell, these are all independent small businesses, often run by the owners. We were worried for them during the months when almost everything was closed down because of the virus, but fortunately they made it through and now they seem to be thriving, presumably because they’re well placed to serve a suddenly-larger local market. I have nothing against Pret. I've eaten there many times when I’ve been travelling for work or shopping for a while in a big place. But almost everything is better about those local businesses I mentioned. If the strange circumstances this year cause a permanent change in our lifestyles and if that makes local catering more viable at the expense of the big convenience chains aimed at a commuting workforce, I find it hard to see a downside, at least in the long term after a possibly disruptive period of change. The trade and jobs will probably still be there, just in smaller businesses serving their own communities.

vvilliamperez 6y ago

I saw these all over New York in Christmas 2019. Ended up grabbing a bite to eat and was pretty impressed with the food. Definitely fills a market gap for fast, small, semi-healthy food. No oversized combo meals there.

partisan 6y ago

I’ve had pret in London on a brief visit. I had the Peking duck wrap. It was delicious and I had it as often as I could during that trip. I came back to nyc with a healthy respect for pret and often ate from there at my last job. I will miss it, personally speaking, but I understand when others see it as unworthy of eating. That is why a market with variety is so important, different tastes are served by those who serve them best.

throrthaway 6y ago

Just in case people don't know, although the name sounds French I've literally never seen one in France. I guess it's like Mexico's Taco Bell or something

regnamehtnidog 6y ago
The article mentions that it's an English chain. The name is a pun on the fashion term "prêt-à-porter" which is often used in English. See https://www.net-a-porter.com/ https://www.net-a-porter.com/ for another example of a brand that riffs on the term without being French.
- 205guy 6y ago
  I wanted to say the same. I will add that because "prêt-à-porter" is a fashion term, it would be somewhat familiar to London city office workers, especially the upscale demographic they target with their prices and marketing.
barry-cotter 6y ago
Up until 20 years ago a foreign language was compulsory in UK secondary schools through the equivalent of US high school. The default foreign language that virtually every school would teach was French, with other languages usually being a nice to have. There’d be the occasional school that taught German but not French. Up until very recently it could be assumed that virtually every educated Briton could read French to a low level. And up until the 70s at least not being able to speak French on some level would have been vaguely embarrassing for middle class strivers. Writing things in French is not a claim to be from France, it’s a class thing.
- Chris_Newton 6y ago
  Meanwhile, elsewhere in Europe, speaking multiple languages to a useful level is completely normal. They really are much better at that than we (Brits) are, and the decision to drop the language requirements we did have in schools has always seemed like a backward step to me. I doubt Pret’s name really makes much difference to who it appeals to, though. It’s a well-known brand, but if you’re selling sandwiches and coffees for those prices as an everyday thing, you are clearly aiming for a certain type of customer anyway.

crazygringo 6y ago

As an American, I've always been so confused by Pret's sandwiches. Specifically, how they're like 95% bread. Seriously. You get their "famous ham and cheese" and it's a mini baguette with like a single layer of ham and cheese. Like the ham and cheese is a condiment, rather than filling. It's a stretch to call what they sell "sandwiches". It's closer to just flavored bread. And remember -- it's not just sugar that increases the risk for diabetes, but massive amounts of processed carbs, exactly like Pret. I'll take my corner deli please, where a sandwich is more like a balanced meal: an actual full serving of protein inside, with lots of tomatoes, peppers and lettuce too.

ggm 6y ago
I've eaten both european and american sandwiches. American ones are certainly better "value for money" but only in the sense that they typically feed a family of four. They're kind-of excessive. the US didn't invent the foot-long sub for no reason, worldwide obesity scores had to be earned.
- thomasahle 6y ago
  > the foot-long sub It's meant for two people: https://youtu.be/Hvzw7MOFhQo https://youtu.be/Hvzw7MOFhQo
- crazygringo 6y ago
  > that they typically feed a family of four That's true of some things at American sit-down restaurants. But hardly true for a cold sandwich at a sandwich shop. Even a Subway "footlong" club sandwich is just 620 calories. Assuming a 2,000 cal/day diet, that's a little under a third of what you need. Or, in other words, exactly the right size for a balanced lunch if your calorie requirements are on the lesser side. How exactly does 620 calories feed a family of four? Or how is it excessive at all? Obviously it goes without saying the sandwich is the complete meal (no adding soda or chips).
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]

JustARandomGuy 6y ago

American here (work in downtown Chicago), I used to get Pret several times a week as one of their stores was right next door to my office. They have delicious sandwiches, bakery items, and fruit cups, but it's very expensive - a croissant and a breakfast sandwich ran close to $10. It's a great place if you want to eat healthy and have a short lunch time, but there are better options to deliver from if you're WFH.

mortenjorck 6y ago
I'll miss them. (If you're not aware, Pret permanently closed all its Chicago locations except UChicago last month: https://chicago.eater.com/2020/8/24/21396276/pret-a-manger-sandwich-grab-and-go-chain-closed-chicago-pandemic-dandds-place-doughnuts-fundraiser https://chicago.eater.com/2020/8/24/21396276/pret-a-manger-s...) I just hope Chicgao's own euro-style sandwich chain Hannah's Bretzel survives.
- celim307 6y ago
  Hannah’s is even more expensive
  - shanemlk 6y ago
    but tastes better per dollar
- JustARandomGuy 6y ago
  Wow, TIL! Thanks for the link. I haven't been in downtown Chicago since the middle of March; my employer is keeping us at home until at least 2021.
wirthjason 6y ago
I was working on a side project with a friend and after work we would meet at the Pret by Union Station and have a cup of coffee and discuss. Just before Pret closed someone would come in with a large plastic bag and clear out all the racks of sandwiches. I assumed these were donations for a food pantry or shelter. I couldn’t believe the waste. It made me feel like they wouldn’t be so expensive if they weren’t throwing so much away. It’s probably a fraction of their operating costs but it made a huge mental impact on how I view their business. I did love the graphic design on their marketing. It was very creative.

AznHisoka 6y ago

I always read the name as “Pet a Manager” which makes me never want to step inside one.

legerdemain 6y ago
Luckily, the name just means "ready to eat" in French. Perhaps they could have done like Panera and renamed themselves to something that wouldn't upset easily confused American diners?
- TeMPOraL 6y ago
  I always misread it the same way and I'm Polish. English misreads confuse everyone, not just Brits and Americans, because for better or worse, English is the international language. Lingua franca, to make an obvious pun.
  - pbhjpbhj 6y ago
    OT: 'Lingua franca' might be my favourite term. AIUI its a Portuguese term to refer to the 'Frankish language', the Franks being Germanic (not Gallic; somewhat akin to the situation of Angles and Britons) and somehow it's used normally to refer to English [not exclusively ofc, there are many lingua franca]. We could just say 'common tongue', but that's just not the English [Language] way - far too simple.
- alfu 6y ago
  It confuses me because the accents are 'missing' (prêt-à-manger). I wonder if people more familiar with French are better at interpolating accents.

dreen 6y ago

While I agree with other posters here that Pret has overpriced mediocre food the standard coffee they offer is IMHO better than at every other similar place. That includes Starbucks, Nero, Costa etc OTOH, I havent bought a single cup since March since Im getting my beans from Pact.

lvturner 6y ago
Honestly, and I appreciate that this might be controversial, but the best quality to price ratio coffee I have ever found, belongs to McDonald's - while it might not be the best, it's perfectly drinkable and it's consistent store to store, country to country. (Though, it is gross with whatever 'milk' they use - I only drink it black)

Gustek 6y ago

I used to work at the Pret during my student years. All employees, we were very puzzled by why Pret is so popular and why are they willing to pay so much for the food. Today with a better-paid job, when in the centre and need to get a quick snack, Pret is often my choice. End of the day they have good food and offer good service. You hear many stories about people who used to work for McD and they say they will never eat there again. I can confidently say that at Pret, I did not see any red flags that would make me not eat there. I wonder how the subscription idea will work for them. Pret is a sandwich shop, but most of the profit comes from coffee. When I used to work there, the price of a coffee was £2, and the cost was £0.20. I guess they expect most people to not max out on the offer, which is probably a reasonable assumption. At the time, we were told the reason Pret does not offer free coffee after N transactions is because they want to make a customer feel special when they get free coffee. That's why all employees are allowed to give free coffee to anyone at their discretion, just not too many :) Sounds like it is about to change.

philjackson 6y ago
That free coffee thing. I used to go to a Pret frequently with one of my female colleagues who happened to be very traditionally attractive. She got a free coffee from male staff every single time.
chrisseaton 6y ago
> All employees, we were very puzzled by why Pret is so popular and why are they willing to pay so much for the food. What's was puzzling about it? They're reasonably nice and fresh sandwiches in a nice room for not a lot of money. And as you knew yourself it seems clean too.
- danpalmer 6y ago
  The sandwiches are twice the price of a supermarket sandwich, and for many (especially students working at Pret) the idea of buying lunch out rather than making it at home and bringing it in may be a luxury. If you're on £16k a year, spending £1000 for a sandwich every day for lunch is a lot (£4 sandwich * 250 working days).

porknubbins 6y ago

I always thought their almond croissants were really good. It makes sense they are from London because Europeans, even the UK seem to take baked goods more seriously than the US.

vinay427 6y ago
Is it that surprising that Europeans have higher standards for European foods, or at least the ones local to them? Foreign imports will always be seen as specialty items that tend to be overpriced and usually few and far between. You might find good European bread options in the US if you're willing to spend far more time and money to travel to that one bakery in town that has higher standards, but most people won't bother.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

EricE 6y ago

I'm so glad I never was a snacker - just from the cost savings alone (never mind the savings in the size of my waist too)

scubbo 6y ago

I can honestly say that, aside from "good pubs", Pret a Manger is the thing I miss most having moved from London to San Francisco. There's just nothing like it for quick, easy, good coffee-and-premade-food (or I just haven't found it - in which case, please consider this a masterful invocation of Cunningham's Law).

0max 6y ago
I think SF is more of a burrito and onigiri type of town. Some of my favorite grab and go spots are Asian grocery stores.
- 082349872349872 6y ago
  Burritos make an excellent substitute for Döner. Onigiri look like what happens to picnic loaves when they reach islands at the other end of eurasia?
  - robotmay 6y ago
    I think of onigiri as a Japanese variant of the Cornish Pasty. I imagine it does have similar roots: making an edible wrapper for food that preserves it until lunch.
- scubbo 6y ago
  And it's very good indeed at those things!

kps 6y ago

Ah, if HN readers are fascinated by Pret a Manger, wait 'til they hear about J Lyons tea shops.

recursive 6y ago
And here I've only just heard of Pret a Manger. That's after I misread it as "a Pret manager", which was equally nonsensical.
Lio 6y ago
Don’t knock Lyons, they made the world’s first business computer[1] for those tea shops ...and they sell crumpets. This would be like finding out Pret had a side gig in quantum computing ...and crumpets. 1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/LEO_(computer) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/LEO_(computer)
- kps 6y ago
  Yes, LEO was the point. A chain of English tea shops were bleeding-edge pioneers of computing.

tony 6y ago

If you like this subject, you may like the Company Man on YouTube. Specifically, they have a playlist for "Company declines" on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9_9_unNR_e7MU1-fJy9B3GFgFkNojs13 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9_9_unNR_e7MU1-fJy9B... Covers: Kmart, Blockbuster, RadioShack, Toys R Us, Pan Am, Kodak, Sear, Payless, Hostess, Nokia, Quiznos

throwaway83383 6y ago
Why does the guy who makes those half-laugh at every other sentence of his own script?

switch11 6y ago

Pret a Manger 1) Amazing food 2) Very nicely set up 3) Just read the blogs etc. that London women write about Pret a Manger. In their minds it's the kind of place where they can get good food and also find 'the man of their dreams' 4) very little real competition 5) most people have a decent amount of disposable income. You can eat utter rubbish at a fast food joint, or you can terrible tasting food from a convenience store, or you can eat at a good place like Pret a Manger 6) Quick * They do a lot of things right If your target audience has money, then providing them a high quality service and pricing it higher is good It's also a big help if the pricing ensures that only upwardly mobile people can afford it Go into a fish and chips in london and you have half of East London in there, innit? go to Pret a Manger and it's people you wouldn't mind having a pint at the pub with

tluyben2 6y ago
1) matter of taste I would say; I find it quite horrible. Miles removed from something like Le Pain Quotidien, but yeah matter of taste. When working for a client in London I would rather skip lunch vs eat the plastic Pret serves. Or, you know, actually go to the pub and have a pint.
- chrisseaton 6y ago
  > matter of taste I would say; I find it quite horrible. Miles removed from something like Le Pain Quotidien, but yeah matter of taste. When working for a client in London I would rather skip lunch vs eat the plastic Pret serves. It's just bread, salad, vegetables, meat, butter, prepared conventionally. You're talking about it like it's some kind of synthetic replacement? It's just normal fresh ingredients. I'm not sure it's possible for them to be doing it so bad as to justify your reaction.
  - tluyben2 6y ago
    I'm talking about that it all taste horrible and fake to me. I know they say it's handmade and fresh but all I had (in center of London and on Gatwick airport) tasted tired and artificial and it being wrapped in tons of plastic does not help. This compared to other places (around the corner usually), where it's freshly prepared (so the baguette or sandwich cut and your toppings added, not premade) in front of you and put in a paper bag or in nothing if you eat it straight away. If you put the condiments on the sandwich and wrap it and put it in a cooler (like Pret does), the moist will make it just soggy crap. Even my local supermarket bakes baguettes all day long instead of 'driving them in' in the morning and being 'maximally 1 day old' according to Pret (which is contested all over the web but let's say 1 day old max is true); 10+ hours is far too old for bread with toppings wrapped in plastic), IMHO. I understand this should be much cheaper to run, but, for instance, my supermarket is cheaper still and nicer, so the cheap (looking, feeling, tasting) factor of premaking everything does not reflect in the prices. Which is, again, the matter of taste; some people like those soggy things. Maybe you do too or you have a different experience because you went to a US one or one that has different facilities (maybe in other countries they are better; I cannot believe French or Belgian people would eat this quality food while surrounded by freshness)? I went more than once to different ones and it was all equally bad. Especially when you are in London, there are far more superior places around every corner (even at the airport; Jamie's / Wagamama are next door, why would you ever...). I just rather skip a meal than eat a bad one, which is fine I think. Even most of the images make me cringe [0]. And most of these images are pro images and promotion images; the soggy gunk in my hands didn't look this 'nice'. This for instance [1] would be a reason to go; however, they pulled it because this pic is not real; the real thing was... not good, hence they pulled it (ofcourse the bread is bad if you trying to emulate a french feel but then prepack it). While the Le Pain version [2] is always spot on; nice baguettes, consistent quality and not premade. Disclaimer: I can only speak for the London Prets as I worked close to one (at a bank) there and went a few times with my colleagues until deciding it was too horrible to actually eat. And only went to the HK Le Pain; I didn't know they had them in London, but seems they do (at least before Covid). If you only care about how quick it is, then, yes, it's quick; I don't however; I care about the taste and quality. And like I said; it's taste, can't really agree/disagree (or justify as you say), just chat about it; you have a different taste than I have; that's fine; it's not worse or better or whatever; it's probably more convenient (I am very picky about what I eat; it has to be good always, which is why I cook/make most of what I eat myself for the past 20 years, including baking bread (not bread machine; by hand)) to be you, but I seek convenience/saving time in other things. [0] https://www.google.com/search?q=pret+manger+sandwich&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwiOs9e-4_TrAhXOgM4BHW2sDkoQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=pret+manger+sandwich&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzIECCMQJzIECCMQJzICCAAyBggAEAgQHjIGCAAQCBAeMgYIABAIEB4yBggAEAgQHjIGCAAQCBAeMgQIABAYUOVaWOVaYLRcaABwAHgAgAF1iAF1kgEDMC4xmAEAoAEBqgELZ3dzLXdpei1pbWfAAQE&sclient=img&ei=F75lX87LLc6Bur4P7di60AQ&bih=845&biw=1660 https://www.google.com/search?q=pret+manger+sandwich&tbm=isc... [1] https://london.eater.com/2019/10/25/20931811/pret-manger-jambon-beurre-sandwich-discontinued https://london.eater.com/2019/10/25/20931811/pret-manger-jam... [2] https://www.openrice.com/en/hongkong/p-le-pain-quotidien-p5460093 https://www.openrice.com/en/hongkong/p-le-pain-quotidien-p54... > It's just bread, salad, vegetables, meat, butter, prepared conventionally. Some reading materials: https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2142241/uk-ad-watchdog-doesnt-swallow-pret-mangers-natural-sandwiches-made https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2142241/uk-ad... https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/12/pret-a-manger-marketing https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/12/pret-a... Nothing conventional about it unless you mean mass manufacturing, added chemicals and storing it for a day are conventional for a fresh made sandwich with toppings. Maybe they are in some places, not here though.

jessaustin 6y ago

The changes described in TFA seem like good ideas, but one would have expected to read of them in May rather than September.

pkaye 6y ago

In Silicon valley there was a chain called Specialty's Cafe and Bakery. They shut down permanently after the pandemic but it was very common place for offices to order meals for lunch meetings. The sandwiches were bland but the cookies were always nice.

rswail 6y ago
"after the pandemic"... this sounds like a message left by a time traveller.

kpozin 6y ago

When I was in London on vacation nine years ago, Pret shops were a godsend. I think at least half of my lunches and dinners were Pret sandwiches, as I was generally running around and didn't have time or energy for much else. After they became popular in NYC a few years later, I tried them a couple of times but didn't find nearly as good a selection of healthy options as in London.

lancewiggs 6y ago

Perhaps they could consider opening up in New Zealand. Plenty of folks with UK experience would jump at the chance for quality fast lunch.

mrkwse 6y ago
I'm assuming you're from NZ? Given the greater degree of success NZ is having, are offices still filled there, with little change to pre-COVID?

genmon 6y ago

Related: this is a great long read in the Guardian about the emergence of the lunch sandwich in the UK. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/24/how-the-sandwich-consumed-britain https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/24/how-the-sandwic... One nugget: the lunch sandwich was invented by M&S in the early 1990s, and it was immediately hugely popular. Yet management missed the chance to capitalise on it by opening standalone sandwich shops. A lesson in organisational inertia, leading to a business missing a huge new opportunity right under their noses. My view: businesses should compensate for this by doubling-down by default on any form of enlargement that works, deliberately not considering overall strategy. The limit to consider strategic implications should be higher than it currently is.

james412 6y ago

Pret and Itsu (same founders) have been my default shops for many years because you simply don't have to think, walking in and out in under 2 minutes is absolutely to be expected, and if you're a bit autistic and enjoy routine, can have precisely the same choc bar + coffee + salad + sandwich with identical consistency on every single visit Their food is hardly amazing, but it is wonderfully consistent. Truly hope they survive and flourish once more, London simply would not be the same without them

mprovost 6y ago
Dominic Raab (currently the UK's foreign secretary) is (in)famous for having the same Pret meal for lunch every (working) day: a chicken caesar and bacon baguette, with a pot of fruit and the same smoothie. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/apr/26/is-it-weird-to-eat-the-same-sandwich-for-lunch-every-day https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/apr/26/is-it-w...

j7ake 6y ago

I don't normally like sandwiches, but Pret a Manger has managed to make many of their sandwiches very tasty. I think they manage to balance the right flavors. Off the top of my head e.g. pickled red onions for sour, cheese/meat for salty, roasted tomatoes and chutney for sweet. Ingredients they use aren't necessarily fancy or expensive, but they balance them appropriately and consistently.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

lkramer 6y ago

I never understood the British sandwich culture. I'm currently living and working London and the number of times people will just go for a quick sandwich, which typically means some depressing mayo filled abomination with a packet of crisps and a softdrink is depressing when there are genuinely nice places to have lunch, for not much more. What is even more mind boggling is when you work with British people abroad at places with genuinely great food culture, like Tokyo or Singapore, and they then lament that there is 'no where around to get decent sandwich`, by which they mean their industrially produced cardboard tasting abomination, since typically you can get actually good sandwiches in those places as well as a variety of other thing.

mahesh_rm 6y ago
It is not clear to me whether you are referring to Pret's sandwiches. I am not British, but when in London for work I tend to love Pret's. I found their offering healthier and tastier than basically any other fast food alternative in any other place in the world.
dageshi 6y ago
For some people, perhaps a lot of people, many meals are just fuel. Those sandwiches are an acceptable unit of fuel, they come in an acceptable variety at acceptable prices and can be bought in an acceptable amount of time. You don't have to make decisions about what to order, you don't have to queue (or at least not for very long), it's acceptable fuel.
- wenc 6y ago
  This. There are individuals and cultures with the food as fuel mentality and it works for them. I have many friends who are like this. I’m decidedly the opposite - more of a food as culture and as something to be appreciated kind of person. I think we need all kinds. But I’d also rather work in the UK but eat in Italy. (To be fair, Indian food in the UK is top notch)
Accacin 6y ago
What's to understand? I saw people at lunch eating wrapped rice things in Japan from the 7/11 which weren't that great compared to other places I could eat (especially the 'fresh' ones which were easy to find), but people still ate them. In Singapore there were amazing food centers, and I saw Singaporeans eating at McDonald's! Why were they doing that when there were so many good options about? I've never understood why people are so judgemental about what others eat.

beck5 6y ago

I would love to see pret move out a bit further where people live and WFH, or even have a delivery truck which works the local area. My partner and myself both WFH in Peckham, we would love to buy a couple of sandwiches and coffees from pret via an app. We get the occasional falafel wrap on just eat but there are not enough quick delivery options for healthyish lunches.