Pret a Manger Customers Left Fuming Over End of ‘Free Drinks’

Pret a Manger is axing its subscription offering of “free drinks” to attract customers back after the Covid pandemic. The coffee chain has announced that it is “time to rethink” the Club Pret offer, charging £10 for a subscription for half-price drinks instead of providing five drinks a day and a 20% discount on food for a cost of £30 a month. The new subscription will be introduced in September, starting at £5 a month until 31 March 2025 and then rising to £10.

Pret’s UK managing director, Clare Clough, said the chain “never really got comfortable with” the dual pricing across food products. The new subscription will be introduced in September, starting at £5 a month until 31 March 2025 and then rising to £10. The company aims to focus on better value for everyone, as most customers are not Club Pret subscribers.

However, there has been a hostile reaction to the change, with some users expressing frustration on social media. Last year, Pret a Manger returned to profit for the first time since 2018, with the launch of its subscription service helping the coffee and bakery chain bounce back after the Covid crisis. Sales jumped 20% to £430m in the six months to the end of June 2023. Pret’s subscription service generated 57.9m redemptions globally in 2022, up two-thirds from the previous year.

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