Pret A Manger Offers Coffee Subscription to Lure Customers Back

(Bloomberg) -- Pret A Manger Ltd. is trying a new way to draw housebound office workers back into its shops: a subscription offering as many as five coffees daily for 20 pounds ($26.5) a month.

The British sandwich chain’s “YourPret Barista” service launches Tuesday, and consumers will be given the first month free. It includes everything from filter coffee to cappuccinos, as well as tea, hot chocolate, smoothies and frappes.

Pret, which is owned by investment firm JAB, said last week that it has cut 2,800 jobs and is closing 30 stores in the wake of the Covid-19 lockdown. Now, with Covid cases relatively low in the U.K. despite a resurgence elsewhere in Europe, the government wants more workers to return to offices.

The Centre for Economics and Business Research has warned that the U.K. economy could lose almost half a trillion pounds of output if workers don’t come back.

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