The Daily Telegraph - Saturday
Pret lowers sandwich prices after claims of profiteering
PRET A MANGER has reduced the price of its best-selling sandwiches after it was hit with claims of profiteering.
Price cuts have been made to Pret’s six most popular products, with some sandwiches falling by up to £1.
That includes the price of a tuna baguette, which has been lowered from £4.25 to £3.99, and the Posh Cheddar baguette, which has fallen from £4.99 to £3.99.
A total of 66p has also been knocked off the price of a cheese toastie, which now costs customers £4.99. The price of egg mayo sandwiches has also been cut from £3.40 to £2.99.
It comes after the sandwich chain was forced to defend hiking prices over the past two years.
Guy Meakin, the company’s shops and franchise director, said last October that the firm had always been “transparent” with its customers.
He told “It’s a really tough market. Energy costs have gone up through the roof, and are now starting to plateau and come down, which is encouraging – but still significantly higher than before. But prices are going up, so unfortunately, we are having to pass our prices through to our customers from time to time.”
Pano Christou, Pret’s chief executive, has also blamed price hikes on inflationary costs, which have impacted labour, ingredients and energy. It is understood bosses opted to raise prices rather than reduce the size of products.
Price hikes helped Pret return to profit in 2022 after plunging to a £225
‘It’s a really tough market. Energy costs have gone up through the roof and remain higher than before’
million loss during the pandemic. Since then, the chain has embarked on an expansion across the UK and international markets.
Clare Clough, UK and Ireland managing director at Pret, said: “We’ve been looking at opportunities to bring down our prices where possible.
“Earlier this year, we reduced the prices on six of our freshly made best-selling sandwiches and baguettes by over 10 per cent on average.”