Yahoo Finance Pret USA reveals brand facelift playing up chain’s ‘London touch’ to Americans
Pret has unveiled a rebranding for its US coffee shops that emphasises the chain's London "touch" in a bid to appeal to American consumers' love of the capital.
Pret’s American cafes will soon be fitted out with the new "Pret: London 1986" logo. Bosses said the new logo aims to "champion" the brand's London heritage.
The chain's founders, friends Julian Metcalfe and Sinclair Beecham, launched their first Pret A Manger (the French for "ready to eat") 35 years ago on Victoria Street. The cafe's French moniker - and the sophistication it implies - appealed to Londoners, along with its organic produce.
They broke into the US coffee market in 2001, opening a store on New York’s Broad Street, and the US is now the chain's most significant market outside the UK.
Today, announcing the rebrand, Pret's US president Jorrie Bruffett said: “What we’re bringing is that touch of London while serving delicious food with friendly service.”
The rebrand is set to coincide with the launch of a refurbishment across the chain's American estate.
Pret, synonymous with office life and a somewhat unwilling pandemic bellwether, has closed more than 70 stores and slashed 3,771 jobs since Covid hit. It was forced to secure emergency bank funding in April 2020, before receiving an £185 million capital injection from its owner, Luxembourg-based group JAB.
Bruffett added: “It’s been an incredibly tough few years but we are focused on reinvesting and innovating to improve the customer experience while staying true to what we do best. We’ve got a great future ahead.”
Pret's chief executive Pano Christou, who took the reins in October 2019 after a 20-year career with the company, has been aggressively adapting the UK business model to the reality of hybrid work - including launching a delivery service, dinner menu, frozen croissants for retailers, and a £20 monthly coffee subscription.
It has also opened a small number of shops within large Tesco stores as the retailer also looks for ways to attract customers into bricks and mortar sites. Sainsbury's also launched a similar trial with Carluccio's owner Boparan Restaurant Group this summer.
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