ret A Manger said strong demand for its subscription service has helped drive half-year revenues up by more than a fifth despite a recent move to hike the price of the deal.
The sandwich chain reported revenues of £429.9 million for the first six months of 2023, up 20.2% on a year ago.
It said it achieved record weekly revenues in May and June as its Club Pret subscription service proved popular with customers after expanding to include food as well as coffee.
Digital transactions also jumped 42% in the half year, up from 40% in December, the group said.
Pret increased the cost of the subscription service by 20% from June to £30 a month in the second price rise since the service launched in 2020.
It’s been three years of transformation at Pret, in which we’ve evolved into a truly global, multi-channel brand, and emerged as a stronger business than we were in 2019
It also widened the scheme, rebranded in April as Club Pret, to include a 10% discount on food and cold drinks, having initially launched in 2020 as a coffee-only subscription.
In figures for 2022 made available for the first time, Pret also revealed it posted an annual operating profit of £50.6 million – returning to profitability for the first time since 2018.
The group cheered global expansion for helping improve its results, with the firm now operating more than 600 shops internationally across 15 countries and overseas sales now accounting for 18.9% of revenues.
It is aiming to expand this to more than 700 outlets globally by the end of this year.
The group said it was running ahead of growth targets announced in September 2021 to double the size of its business within five years, having entered seven new international markets since 2021.
We’re focused on continuing to grow, while constantly innovating to bring Pret’s freshly made food and organic coffee to brand new places, from Bishop’s Stortford to Bradford and from Italy to India
Originally it had aimed for five new overseas market launches by the end of 2023.
Pano Christou, Pret chief executive, said: “It’s been three years of transformation at Pret, in which we’ve evolved into a truly global, multi-channel brand, and emerged as a stronger business than we were in 2019.
“We’re focused on continuing to grow, while constantly innovating to bring Pret’s freshly made food and organic coffee to brand new places, from Bishop’s Stortford to Bradford and from Italy to India.”
The group, which has 446 shops in the UK, has recently opened new sites in Bishop’s Stortford and Worthing and said more than half (55%) of openings since January 2022 have been outside London.
This has seen a boost in Pret’s weekend trade, with sales on weekends increasing by 271% since 2021.
More than 70% of Pret shops are now open on the weekends, up 85% on 2021.