Clive Schlee, chief executive of Pret A Manger, has said that company has avoided loyalty cards and instead empowered staff to give away a certain number of hot drinks and food every week for free.
Speaking after announcing record full-year results yesterday, Schlee said that this equated to 28% of its customers being given something free last year.
He also said that the group would “like to be a successful British global company”. He said: “One that is really successful in different continents – that would be a very worthy goal.”
He also hinted that the group’s trial of an evening format could be expanded into further sites.
The group also revealed that its best-selling item was the banana, followed by porridge. Its biggest selling item in the US is a salad.
On expansion he told The Independent: “We’re certainly looking outside London and think there’s potential away from central London in particular.Tastes further north are not too dissimilar, although interestingly customers prefer meat options the further north we go.
“We’d like to be a successful British global company,” he says. “One that is really successful in different continents – that would be a very worthy goal. There have been only five or six companies over the years that have managed that, and most of them have been US companies. British ones have never really made it.”
According to Schlee, all that is required to get a free coffee is a smile, some eye-contact and maybe a little bit of flirting.
“We looked at loyalty cards but we didn’t want to spend all that money building up some complicated Clubcard-style analysis,” he said. “Instead the staff have to give away a certain number of hot drinks and food every week. They will decide ‘I like the person on the bicycle’ or ‘I like the guy in that tie’ or ‘I fancy that girl or that boy’.It means 28% of people have had something free. It’s a nice, different way of doing it.”
