Pret to expand loyalty offer into food: Pret A Manger, the JAB Holdings-backed business, is stepping up its loyalty offer with the launch of Club Pret – expanding its existing coffee subscription to cover all freshly made food, snacks and drinks sold in its stores. Under the new expanded offer, the business is rebranding Coffee Subscription to Club Pret, with subscribers able to access 10% off everything sold in-shop, as well as up to five barista-prepared drinks per day, for just £30 per month and half price in the first month. The company said existing subscribers will get the full deal for £25 for the first 40 days ahead of the price increasing to £30. The company said the move marked an evolution of its loyalty offer, “reinvesting in its most loyal customer base and team members”, and follows the “huge success” of the Pret coffee subscription, which is now redeemed 1.25 million times per week – up 11% year-on-year. The company said the subscription has also helped it “attract and retain its most loyal customers”, with subscribers transacting with Pret 28 times per month, compared to just two times per month for non-subscribers. It has subsequently been rolled out to the US and France. Club Pret is now live in the majority of Pret’s 439 UK shops. To mark the launch, Pret is offering the chance to win one of 100 annual subscriptions, and one lifetime subscription, for anyone who signs up by 3 May. A new range of Pret Coolers, replacing Pret’s frappes and smoothies, will also form part of Club Pret, with the brand’s full range of iced drinks now available in 90% of shops, following a “significant investment” in iced machines. Pano Christou, chief executive of Pret A Manger, said: “Over the past year, we’ve thought long and hard about the best way to support the people who matter most to Pret – our team members who do such an outstanding job, day in and day out, as well as our customers. That’s why we’ve increased pay three times in the last 12 months and reinvested in benefits to support our people through the cost-of-living crisis. It’s now time we give back to our most loyal customers, expanding the subscription and making our freshly made food, snacks and organic coffee more accessible to the people who have been crucial to Pret’s success. That’s what Club Pret is all about.” Pret also said its ongoing investments in loyalty have helped it make good progress on its ambition to double the size of the business by 2026, while also “ensuring it can continue to reward and reinvest in team member pay and benefits”.

Managed groups’ delivery and takeaway sales fall for 16th month in a row as volumes drop: Delivery and takeaway sales at Britain’s top managed restaurant groups in March were 3.0% below the same month in 2022, the new Hospitality at Home Tracker from CGA by NIQ revealed. It means year-on-year sales have now fallen for 16 months in a row. After booming during covid-19 lockdowns, the market has steadily softened as some consumers revert to eating out and others reduce their spending in light of steep rises in household bills. After adjustments for inflation, the value of sales has fallen significantly further in real terms, the tracker showed. The tracker also indicated an even sharper drop in the volume of orders – a sign that groups are depending on menu price rises to stem year-on-year losses. Groups saw a 9.6% dip in their number of delivery orders compared with March 2022, and a 12.7% contraction in takeaway and click-and-collect orders. Sales nevertheless remain well above pre-covid levels, and accounted for 14.9 pence in every pound spent with the managed restaurant groups contributing to the tracker in March. Karl Chessell, CGA’s business unit director – hospitality operators and food, EMEA, said: “Sixteen months of year-on-year decline in delivery and takeaway sales have shown how the cost of living crisis has impacted consumers’ discretionary spending. More positively, it’s an indication that some consumers have switched back from ordering in to going out, and our Coffer CGA Business Tracker has shown modest increases in in-venue sales this year. However, sales in both channels remain well down year-on-year in real terms, and with little respite on inflation in sight trading conditions will remain very challenging for some time to come.”

Just Eat UK to replace corporate sales fleet with electric vehicles: Just Eat UK is planning to replace its entire corporate sales fleet, currently consisting of 175 diesel vehicles, with 100% electric vehicles by 2025. The fleet is used by sales teams to visit prospective restaurant and grocery partners and provide support for the 68,000 partners already on its platform. The initiative is part of Just Eat Takeaway’s wider plans for transitioning 100% of its corporate and sales car fleet to electric vehicles by 2030, as per the company’s net zero target. The sales team’s first 12 electric vehicles are already on the road. Leigh Phillipson, Just Eat UK sales director, said: “Our sales team is committed to providing services to restaurant partners up and down the UK, and by replacing all our vehicles with electric vehicles, we are further reducing greenhouse gas emissions and protecting our environment for future generations.” Just Eat’s other sustainable initiatives include providing seaweed based compostable packaging to restaurants, and trials in carbon labelling and smaller chip portions.