LONDON, April 26 (Reuters) - British sandwich and coffee
chain Pret A Manger has raised the price of its monthly coffee
subscription service by 20% to 30 pounds ($37.34) but expanded
it to include a 10% reduction on everything sold in its shops.
The group, commonly referred to as Pret, launched its coffee
subscription service in September 2020, trying out a new
business model to get it through the COVID-19 pandemic which
hammered its sales. It initially charged 20 pounds a month,
increasing it to 25 pounds a month in February last year.
Pret, which trades from 439 UK shops, said on Wednesday the
service was being rebranded to "Club Pret".
Subscribers will still be able to get up to five
barista-prepared drinks per day, but will also get a 10%
discount on all food, snacks and any additional drinks they
purchase.
Official UK data published last week showed overall consumer
price inflation fell to 10.1% in March. However, prices of food
and non-alcoholic drinks were 19.1% higher in March than a year
earlier, the biggest such rise since August 1977.
Pret, owned by investment firm JAB and founder Sinclair
Beecham, said the coffee subscription service has been "hugely
successful".
It said the service is used 1.25 million times per week in
the UK, up 11% year-on-year, and has been rolled out to the
United States and France.
Pret declined to say how many subscribers it has.
In 2021, Pret set out a plan to double the size of its
business by 2026. Globally it trades from over 550 shops.
($1 = 0.8035 pounds)
(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
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