Twelve weeks ago, Pret A Manger opened Veggie Pret as a month-long pop up in London's Soho. The firm was so overwhelmed by the public response that it has decided keep it open with more Veggie Pret shops planned.
The group had expected sales in the shop to decline as a result of the pop-up. However, after the massive hype of the first few weeks, sales at Veggie Pret are still well up on where they were before the conversion.
Clive Schlee, CEO of Pret, said in his online blog, 'Clearly, the move towards a plant-based diet is gathering momentum, especially among millennials. Vegetarians and vegans are an articulate and social media-savvy group. Many of you have been advocating eating less meat for years and have been thrilled to see a major UK business take up the cause. We have had over 20,000 customer comments in the past twelve weeks and many of you have offered heartfelt thanks to Pret for making a bold move. Even Sir Paul McCartney emailed.
'Pret's goal is to encourage meat eaters to try more veggie food by making sure it looks and tastes better. I know from experience in cooking at home that this isn't easy. Our chefs seem to be getting it right because anecdotally over 50% of customers at Veggie Pret say they are regular meat eaters. Our early insights remain true - vegan dishes and sweet treats are the biggest-sellers and the Cacao & Orange Pot has sold ten times the number we’d predicted!'
The company is now debating where to open the second Veggie Pret. Schlee continued, 'The odds are that it will be a visible corner in the City of London, where we can convert an existing shop to a pop up and see if it resonates with city workers before deciding whether or not to make it permanent. I hope we can bring Veggie Pret to more cities in due course. I have just been told about a well subscribed petition to convert one of our two shops in Cambridge to Veggie.'
Schlee concluded, 'We hope to open the second Veggie Pret before the end of this year and our Chefs are busily working to add some of the best-sellers to more Pret shops next year. The journey from a customer vote to a pop up and now to a permanent shop could not have happened without the enthusiasm and involvement of our customers – thank you for your support.'