Pret to shake up Club Pret subscription offer: Pret A Manger is shaking up its Club Pret subscription scheme. Currently, subscribers receive five free drinks a day for £30 a month. However, from 3 September, subscribers will receive 50% off up to five drinks a day for the reduced price of £10 a month ­– and £5 for existing and new subscribers until 31 March 2025. Pret will also remove the 20% discount on food. From today (Thursday, 18 July), Pret is also reducing the price of its 100% organic Arabica Filter Coffee to 99p and ita all butter croissant to £1.99. Pret’s UK & Ireland managing director Clare Clough said: “It’s almost four years since we introduced our coffee subscription at the height of the pandemic, and I'm proud of the role Club Pret has played for us and our customers since. It was an innovative way to reconnect with our loyal customers and introduce Pret to tens of thousands of new ones, bringing customers back into our shops with an offer that almost seemed ‘too good to be true’. Four years and more than a quarter of a billion coffees later, we have decided that it’s time to rethink how it works. So, the current subscription benefits will end in September and be replaced by a new and simpler offer. Club Pret subscribers will get 50% off up to five Barista made drinks a day for a reduced monthly fee of £10 – and just £5 for existing and new subscribers until 31 March 2025. This also means we will remove the 20% discount on food and get rid of dual pricing across our food products – something we never really got comfortable with. We know this is a change. But with Club Pret subscription, our coffees, teas, coolers and iced drinks will continue to be the best offer on the high street, and at a much more accessible price than the £360 a year people have to pay for the current scheme.  Given the majority of our customers are not Club Pret subscribers, our priority now is to focus on better value for everyone.  Starting today, every customer can once more enjoy Pret’s signature 100% organic Arabica Filter Coffee for just 99p, a nostalgic price we once held for more than a decade. Our all butter croissant will also drop to £1.99. This follows price reductions that we made earlier this year to other best sellers, like our free-range egg mayo sandwich and pole & line caught tuna baguette. By making these changes, we are underlining our commitment to providing better value for all our Pret customers, as well as the Pret quality and service you’ve come to know and expect. I am extremely grateful for the ongoing loyalty of all of our customers and I hope to see you in our shops very soon.” The change comes after Pret began cracking down on Club Pret members who share their free drinks with others in March this year. To get their free drink, all people needed to do was scan a QR code that was located in the Pret app, but users could also download to their Apple Pay or Google Wallet. This meant it could then be sent to friends or family - however, this is against the terms and conditions of the scheme. Club Pret members now have to log into the Pret app every time they want to claim their free beverage. Pret features in the Propel Turnover & Profits Blue Book, which is available exclusively to premium Club members and features 947 companies. Pret's turnover of £790,100,000 for the year ending 29 December 2022 is the 18th highest in the database. Companies can now have an unlimited number of people receive access to Propel Premium for a year for £995 plus VAT – whether they are an operator or a supplier. The single subscription rate is £495 plus VAT for operators and £595 plus VAT for suppliers. Email kai.kirkman@propelinfo.com to upgrade your subscription.

 

Toca Social aiming for ‘dozens’ of US venues and 20-plus in Europe with Paris first, committed to UK growth following strong trading here: Toca Social, the interactive football bar concept, has told Propel it is aiming for “dozens” of US venues following after making its debut there next summer. The business, which currently has two UK sites, is set to return the country where the concept was born – through ball machine technology and training centres developed by former US international footballer Eddie Lewis. Toca Social Dallas is set to open at The Colony’s Grandscape in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in the summer of 2025, ahead of the FIFA World Cup being hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico in 2026. “We have a significant pipeline targeting multiple openings in the US by the World Cup in 2026,” said Alex Harman, who adapted Lewis’s idea for Toca Social, launching the concept in London and Birmingham. “We see the US as a key growth market for the Toca Social brand, having both a proven experiential economy and rapidly expanding football/soccer fandom. We aim to open dozens of venues in the US over the coming years. We are looking at major metropolitan areas with large populations, supportive demographics and a culture of soccer fandom. We are particularly focused on MLS markets through our partnership with the league.” World chess champion Magnus Carlsen was earlier this year revealed as an investor in parent company Toca, and Harman said: “His investment will contribute to our US expansion. Toca continues to seek further investment to accelerate its growth plans globally.” Back in the UK, where Harman told Propel last year he is aiming to open 20-30 sites, a third location, and largest yet, will also open next year, at Westfield White City. “We remain committed to growing within the UK and are pursuing a number of additional venues,” Harman said. “Based on the positive reception of our first two UK venues, we still see 20-30 UK venues as a realistic long term target. The exact timing of this rollout depends on multiple factors, so are not able to provide a specific amount of time. We are also opening our first venue in continental Europe in Paris next year, in partnership with the Westfield Group (URW), and are planning to open 20-plus European venues together over the coming years. Our first venue in Mexico will open next year in Monterrey, and we remain excited about the market. We are also exploring a number of other global franchise opportunities and are always on the lookout for more.” Harman said trading remains strong at the UK sites, with “significant growth in revenue and profitability”, and that both venues were “packed out” for the Euros. In terms of food and beverage, it has been working on an offering of shareable small plates with platters at its core, or even all 18 small plates delivered on a stretcher “for a bit of fun”. A new report produced by Propel on the fast-growing experiential leisure sector will be available to purchase on Thursday, 1 August. The report profiles the current shape of the experiential leisure market – including brands, estate size, trading type and geographical location and future trends. It provides a detailed list of UK experiential leisure companies including key staff and Companies House information. The report includes more than 190 companies, 3,500 sites and a 35,000-word report. Existing Premium Club members can receive the report on Thursday, 1 August for £395 plus VAT. The report will be made available for free to existing Premium members on Tuesday, 10 September at 9am. Email kai.kirkman@propelinfo.com today to order a copy.

 

Boxpark to exit original site in Shoreditch: Boxpark has confirmed it is set to vacate its original site in Shoreditch, east London, dubbed “the world's first pop-up mall”, by the end of this summer. After being temporary occupiers of the site for 12 years, Boxpark Shoreditch has reached the expiration of its lease and notice on the premises has been served by landlords Bishopsgate Goodsyard. This follows the immediate commencement of works for the development of the site after planning permission was granted by the Mayor of London for the redevelopment of the Bishopsgate Goodsyard, which will see new homes, retail and leisure, office space and a new park built on the 4.5 hectare site. The company said it has already informed its employees and tenants of the closure, providing reassurance about job security for its staff and stability for its tenants – most of whom are independent businesses – by offering to relocate them to its other sites. Founder of Boxpark, Roger Wade said: “Firstly, I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to Ballymore, Hammerson, Hackney, and Tower Hamlets for their support over the past 12 years at Boxpark Shoreditch. Our journey has been unforgettable, and I am immensely proud of what we have achieved together. When we launched Boxpark Shoreditch in October 2011, it was the world’s first pop-up mall. Since then, we created over 1,000 jobs, supported 100-plus independent businesses and attracted over 10 million visitors. As we close this chapter, my gratitude also goes out to all the dedicated staff and local community for their unwavering support throughout the years.” The closure comes as Boxpark gears up for two new site openings later this year, in Camden Town and Liverpool Street, as well as making its debut in Bristol in early 2025. Boxpark chief executive Simon Champion said: “While our time in our current site at Shoreditch is coming to an end, we look forward to celebrating all that we have achieved at the venue over the summer before we go on to relaunch Buck Street Market in Camden and mark the launch of our first Boxhall branded site in Liverpool Street this year. With Shoreditch being our home for so many years, we hope to return as soon as we find the right opportunity. However, in the remaining time we have left in Shoreditch we will work as hard as possible to support our team with the transition and aim to relocate our 30-plus tenants and their staff at our other sites, whilst giving all our wonderful customers an unforgettable farewell.” Earlier this year, the group opened its first site outside of London, with Boxpark Liverpool seeing a “spectacular launch and healthy post-launch trading”.