Clive joined Pret as CEO in 2003. He has over 25 years’ experience in the retail food business with Pret, Itsu and Jardine Matheson, the Hong Kong-based multi-national.
Follow him on Twitter for company news, blog updates, and occasional views on the importance of good grammar.
6TH DECEMBER
Last week I tweeted that Pret was considering increasing its discount from 25p to 50p for any customer bringing a reusable cup. We are thinking of doing this to help change habits and it’s well known that “reduce” is better than “recycle”.
11TH OCTOBER
Plastic bottles are a problem. We all feel it even before we hear the shocking statistics about millions of tonnes ending up in our oceans each year and imagine the devastating impact this has on marine wildlife.
13TH JUNE
Two years ago I invited you to vote on how Pret should respond to the growing interest in meat-free food.
28TH MARCH
We opened our Veggie Pret pop up as an experiment last year. We ended up making it permanent and our second Veggie Pret is on its way.
6TH SEPTEMBER
Twelve weeks ago, we opened Veggie Pret as a month-long pop up in Soho. We were so overwhelmed by the public response that we kept it open for the Summer. I can now tell you that we've taken the decision to keep it open for ever(!) And, if we can, to open more Veggie Pret shops in the future.
20TH JULY 2016
The trip up the Rettenstein was an eye opener for all of us – the streets are now a distant memory for these apprentices.
15TH JUNE 2016
Pret opened its Veggie Pop Up shop on Broadwick Street, Soho on 1st June. It has been almost a year in the making. Our teams put an enormous amount of work. Two weeks on, I can share five early impressions from the Pret team on what we’ve seen so far.
19TH APRIL 2016
Today marks the launch of “Not Just For Veggies”, a campaign aiming to highlight that you don't need to be vegetarian to enjoy eating meat-free foods.
13TH JANUARY 2016
This year is Pret’s 30th birthday and it also marks 15 years since we opened our first shop in New York. It hasn’t been an overnight success so let me put our learning to good use: here are five insights to help the next British company brave enough to take the leap.
14TH AUGUST 2015
Two weeks ago I wrote a blog about the growing level of sales of vegetarian products within Pret and I invited my readers to vote on how Pret should respond. There were almost ten thousand responses and, as seems typical of recent referendums, the result was clear but close.
29TH JULY 2015
How can Pret create more delicious vegetarian food? Should we open a vegetarian shop or stay as we are?
26TH MAY 2015
One of our school leavers, Honeybea Youngman, won School Leaver of the Year at the Top Employers for School & College Leavers awards earlier this week.
27TH APRIL 2015
Pret A Manger released its financial results last week. Whilst they were decent, the press quickly focused on something more unusual: Pret’s policy (by no means new) of encouraging its employees to give away free coffee to customers.
Duff Cooper, the British Ambassador to Paris, wrote a brief entry in his diary on 17th March, 1948: "I went to the Royal Empire Society at one o’clock, where I had an unpleasant experience called ‘a sandwich lunch’ which lasted only half an hour.”
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