Pret a Manger to expand in France and US after 14% profit rise

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/apr/21/pret-a-manger-expand-france-us-profit-rise

Version 0 of 1.

Pret a Manger is to almost double the number of its stores in Paris, and open eight more in the US after a 14% rise in profits last year.

The sandwich chain, which is owned by the management and private equity firm Bridgepoint, made underlying profits of £76m after a 16% rise in sales to £594m. Sales at established stores rose nearly 10% as buyers snapped up 16% more hot foods including porridge and macaroni cheese.

Pret, which paid its staff a bonus in October when it hit £10m sales a week in the UK, is benefiting from a trend towards eating on the go, which supermarkets say is affecting their sales.

“Customers expect to eat hot food and a healthy lunch now,” said Clive Schlee, Pret’s chief executive. He said the company’s most frequently sold item were bananas followed by croissants, but that it made the most money from selling coffee.

Schlee said that 12% of Pret’s sales came from new products introduced in the past year. It now sells 50,000 macaroni cheese boxes, introduced in October, every week.

Pret is experimenting with serving full evening meals at one of its central London outlets and Schlee said the idea would be extended to other busy city centre outlets in the UK and New York if it proved a success.

Schlee said the group was working on “softening the atmosphere”, delivering food to tables and introducing alcohol, and that it would take time to work out the best format. He said it made sense for Pret to offer something to those currently walking past its city centre stores on their way out for the evening.

“It’s a natural thing for Pret to do,” he said.

The company, which has 374 shops, will open about 25 new outlets in the UK this year, including its first outlet in a hospital at the John Radcliffe in Oxford.

Last year it opened 33 new shops, including its first in mainland China. A second outlet in Shanghai will open this year. It will open seven or eight new stores in Paris, on top of the 11 already in place, six more in New York and two more elsewhere in the US.