It’s no secret that Pret a Manger, once a lunchtime favourite of office workers, has been hit hard by coronavirus.
With many people expecting and indeed hoping to work from home for the foreseeable future, Pret stores in city centres around the country and business-focused areas of London are really struggling.
In July, Pret announced that 30 of its stores were closing were good, causing at least 1,000 people to lose their jobs. Last week the chain announced even more drastic measures to cut more than 3,000 jobs, which amounts to around a third of its workforce.
“Although we’re now starting to see a steady but slow recovery, the pandemic has taken away almost a decade of growth at Pret,” Pret’s CEO Pano Christou said at the time.
Now Pret has announced an innovative new monthly coffee subscription package in a bid to tempt customers back. For £20 a month, customers will able to order up to five drinks prepared by a Pret barista each day, including teas, coffees, iced coffees, frappes and most smoothies.
Each drink will have to be ordered at least 30 minutes apart, though, to prevent subscribers from ordering several “free” coffees at once for friends or co-workers.
Pret is so keen to attract subscribers that it’s even offering the first month’s subscription for free.
Briony Raven, Pret’s director of coffee and packaging, described the subscription as “Pret’s way of doing loyalty,” telling the BBC: “It’s about giving people an easy choice, when they come back into their everyday routine.”
The average Brit is spending more on monthly subscriptions since social distancing began in March – a trend Pret is presumably hoping to tap into.
And the relatively low monthly subscription price – in theory, you could claim 140 barista-made coffees a month for just £20 – is clearly designed to tempt people back into Pret stores, where they might decide to pick up additional items such as a sandwich or sweet treat.
However, the package will probably be less appealing to customers who don’t live close to a Pret store – as well as those who’ve found a new favourite local coffee shop during the pandemic.
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