A green food revolution? Pret’s vegetarian pop-up store in London to remain open permanently

UK. Pret’s vegetarian and vegan pop-up store in London will remain open permanently after proving to be a big success with customers.

Veggie Pret, which sells only vegetarian and vegan products, began as a month-long experiment in response to customer feedback, with the brand converting an existing Pret outlet in Soho in June. As sales grew Pret decided to keep the store open throughout the summer, and it will now remain open permanently.

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Going green: More than 45 new vegetarian and vegan recipes were developed for Veggie Pret

The company has also announced that it could open further vegetarian-only shops in the future. Pret has many outlets in the airport food & beverage arena so it is possible that the company could one day convert or open a Veggie Pret at an airport.

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The front page of the 1 September edition of The Foodie Report, featuring Veggie Pret

The Veggie Pret concept was discussed in the most recent edition of The Foodie Report by Charlotte Christiansen, best-known for her role in transforming the food & beverage offer at London Gatwick Airport. In her regular column, she asked whether established chains can still be cool, and praised Pret for its willingness to take risks and for listening to its customers.

In a blog post about the Veggie Pret concept, Pret A Manger CEO Clive Schlee wrote: “What is it about the shop that has struck such a chord? 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 are now debating where to open the second Veggie Pret. 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. We hope to open the second Veggie Pret before the end of this year.”

The shop’s sales were expected to drop -30% when it became Veggie Pret, but have actually grown. While Pret said the top eight best-selling products were all vegan-friendly, more than 50% of Veggie Pret customers eat meat regularly.

Footnote: The Moodie Davitt Report has just launched The Airport FAB e-Newsletter, complementing our extensive coverage of the sector on this website. We are the world’s only media focused on worldwide airport (and other travel-related) food & beverage. The Moodie Davitt Report organises the annual Airport Food & Beverage (FAB) Conference & Awards. To subscribe to this free-of-charge e-Newsletter published 26 times a year, please e-mail Sinead@MoodieDavittReport.com

Please send all news of food & beverage outlet openings, together with images, menus, wine lists, video etc to Martin@MoodieDavittReport.com to ensure unrivalled global exposure.

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