Pret A Manger to give 5% pay rise to shop staff

Pret A Manger is to give a 5% pay rise to all staff working in its shops in the UK.

As first reported by Propel, this will increase the coffee chain’s starting rate to £9.40 per hour, with all roles from team member to group manager receiving a raise from October.

A Pret spokesperson said the move was to recognise the “dedication and customer service” of its teams during “the most challenging time in [the company’s] history".

The majority of its stores are “back on track” and its London City shops have recovered 80% of pre-pandemic trade, the spokesperson added. The company will review pay again in April 2022.

It comes a month after Pret reversed a decision to halve employees’ mystery shopper bonus from £1 per hour to 50p following an outcry on social media. Chief executive Pano Christou apologised and admitted the company had “got this wrong”.

During 2020, the chain underwent a restructure, which included the closure of 39 Pret and 33 Eat-branded shops in the UK, with 3,771 redundancies.

But in an internal email sent to staff this week, Pret managing director Clare Clough wrote that the group had reached a “big milestone” in its recovery and was planning further expansion.

Clough said: “Now, as we move forward with our recovery, our goal over the next few years is to significantly grow our business and create jobs for thousands more team members to work in hundreds more Pret shops across the UK.”

In August Pret confirmed it is looking to establish new franchise partnerships to open 100 new sites in towns and travel hubs outside its London heartland.

In its most recent financial report, the company said it had secured a capital injection of £185m from shareholders to support the business through the pandemic.

Other hospitality groups have also raised wages in a bid to attract staff to support their expansion. This week Itsu announced it is increasing the hourly wage for entry-level team members by 11% to a minimum of £10.40 an hour.

Earlier this month Costa Coffee said it was introducing a a 5% pay rise for all 14,500 staff working in company-owned stores in the UK ahead of plans to hire 2,000 new recruits.