Pret A Manger has returned to profit for the first time since the pandemic began, after the company switched its focus from city centre outlets to out-of-town shops.
The sandwich chain said on Monday that it started to turn a profit again in March this year. Half-year sales more than doubled to £354mn from £155mn the previous year when business was hit by Covid-19 restrictions.
Sales grew faster outside London than they did in the capital, “reflecting the sustained growth of Pret’s regional shop estate”, the company said. More than a third of Pret’s 442 UK shops are located in regional cities and towns.
The privately owned company posted an operating loss of £226mn in 2021, down from £343mn in 2020.
Pano Christou, Pret’s chief executive, said the group “grew fastest in some of the places where we only had a handful of Pret shops before”.
“The opportunity now is for us to take that growth and apply it internationally,” he added.
Last week, Pret announced a franchise partnership with Reliance Industries, India’s biggest company, to open up to 100 outlets across the country over the next five years.
In September last year, Pret unveiled a medium-term growth strategy to double the size of its business within five years, as well as expanding into five new markets by the end of 2023.
It has since announced five international franchise partnerships, putting it on course to meet its international expansion plans one year ahead of schedule. The company is also expanding its retail presence in Canada, Spain, Portugal and Ireland thanks to the partnerships.
The sandwich chain now operates 558 shops outside of the UK.
The company has also grown its digital offering. In 2021, 37 per cent of sales came from digital channels, the company said on Monday.
Pret’s coffee subscription service, which was launched in 2020 as part of its efforts to diversify its retail channels, was used on average more than 667,000 times a week during 2021. The product is now available in France and the US as well as the UK.
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