Pret A Manger cuts almost 2,900 jobs as sales plummet to lowest level in ten years

Some staff will now be working shorter hours.

A total of 2,890 jobs will be cut across Pret A Manger’s UK business, equivalent to a third of its total workforce, as the company suffers from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

2,800 of the announced cuts will be from roles in their outlets, following an earlier announcement to permanently close 30 of them.

The chain describes the move as a “reflection of shorter opening hours, lower transaction levels, and the losses faced by the business in 2020”, adding that 1,000 roles were “preserved” due to staff moving to “a lower level of minimum weekly hours.”

“These hours will be continuously reviewed to reflect levels of sales and footfall during the remainder of 2020 and early 2021,” it said.

The other 90 were reduced in Pret’s Support Centre teams.

“I’m gutted that we’ve had to lose so many colleagues. Although we’re now starting to see a steady but slow recovery, the pandemic has taken away almost a decade of growth at Pret,” CEO Pano Christou said in a statement.

“We’ve managed to protect many jobs by making changes to the way we run our shops and the hours we ask Team Members to work. I’m hopeful we’ll be able to review all these changes now that trade is improving again, and I’m encouraged by the improvements we’re seeing every week.”

Pret is expected to employ 6,000 staff in the UK for their 367 domestic shops. Discussions with landlords across their estate are ongoing.

Internationally, the chain recently closed nearly all of its Chicago outlets in the United States.