Credit: Jamie Orlando Smith/Pret a Manger
Top end High Street sandwich chain Pret A Manager has made a £525 million loss.
The downfall has spiralled from £62 million in the previous year.
Pret’s fare has been viewed as overpriced to price-conscious customers.
The company is now pushing meal deals to halt the decline.
It will be trialling a croissant and coffee for between £4.50 to £5.
A lunch deal of a drink, crisps and a sandwich is expected to cost £6 to £7.
Pano Christou, Pret’s chief executive, said customers were “much more price-conscious than ever”.
Pret said in its accounts:
“As a result of ongoing economic pressure across all stakeholders in key markets as well as additional bills introduced as part of the national autumn Budget in 2024, management has reassessed the group’s strategy and the expected long-term performance of the group.”
Although losses deepened in the latest financial year, like-for-like sales were up by 2.8pc.
Spending across Pret shops was up by 10pc to £1.2bn.
Earlier this year it launched £12.95 salads – more than double the price of ones at M&S.
Pret said the high price was down to the size of the salads.
Mr Christou said the coffee chain was now trying to be seen as better value.
He added: “Recent price increases had been below inflation and that the business was looking at other ways to offer value to shoppers, such as the plans to trial meal deals at different price points in about 70 stores over the coming months.”
