Pret A Manger considers opening vegetarian store
Pret CEO Clive Schlee wrote about how the British market is shifting towards vegetarian diets and the brand’s plans to adapt.
“Recently, there has been a distinct shift towards vegetarian. The top selling SuperBowl in our latest salad launch was Beets, Squash & Feta, beating chicken, salmon and crayfish alternatives. This would have been unheard of five years ago,” Schlee said.
“How can Pret help people to enjoy more vegetarian food without being preachy, or worse still, alienating our customers? After all, our best-selling sandwich at the moment is the Chicken Caesar & Bacon baguette and some of the fastest growing chains in the world like Five Guys and Chipotle are distinctly animal protein-oriented.”
“One idea is to open a vegetarian Pret A Manger shop. It would offer the usual Pret menu but replace sandwiches and salads containing meat and fish with a delicious range of vegetarian items. These dishes would have to be good because in the food business, it is always taste that wins the day. Put simply, vegetarian food has to be delicious if it is to gain more traction,” Schlee said.
He added that this idea is still in its infancy and that Pret is also considering only adding a vegetarian fridge to the its stores.
