“Time to rethink” says Pret A Manger after axing five-coffees-a-day Club Pret offer in UK

The subscription had almost seemed ‘too good to be true’, according to Pret’s UK Managing Director Claire Clough | Photo credit: Pret A Manger

Pret A Manger has announced a significant overhaul of its Club Pret subscription model in the UK, which will see it scrap its five-coffees-a-day for £30 ($38.99) offer in September 2024.
 

The latest iteration of Club Pret will offer subscribers 50% off up to five barista prepared beverages a day for a reduced monthly fee of £10 ($13). A discount on food introduced in April 2023 has been scrapped entirely. 

Writing on the Pret A Manger’s official blog UK Managing Director Claire Clough said the subscription, first launched in September 2020 to counter Covid-19 disruption to its office worker customer base, had almost seemed ‘too good to be true’ and that it was now ‘time to rethink how it works’. 

A spokesperson for the coffee and food-to-go chain told World Coffee Portal that the change is focused on “offering better value” for subscribers. The new deal represents a ‘much more accessible price than the £360 ($468) a year people have to pay for the current scheme’, Clough wrote. 

According to Pret, the UK – home to more than 450 of the chain’s 650 stores globally – will be its only market currently affected by the changes. 

The new model marks the latest major change to the subscription following two price rises, the removal of blended beverages in February 2023, the introduction of food discounts in April 2023 and a crackdown on account sharing in March 2024. 

It also follows a series of moves by Pret A Manger this year to position itself as more value-focused as UK consumers continue to cut back on discretionary spending amid the cost-of-living crisis. 

In February 2024, the coffee and food-to-go chain reduced the price of six of its best-selling sandwiches in the UK by an average 12%. From 18 July 2024, Pret A Manger will also be reintroducing its £0.99 ($1.29) filter coffee across its UK stores – two years after doubling its price to £1.80 ($2.34). 

The changes also come two months after premium UK food-to-go and coffee chain LEON relaunched its own in-store coffee subscription, Roast Rewards, which it billed as the ‘most affordable’ on the UK high street. The offer includes up to five barista-made beverages a day for £25-a-month ($32.50) alongside a 20% discount on its breakfast and all-day food menu.   

Pret A Manger began rolling Club Pret out internationally in September 2023 and previously announced plans for the subscription to be available across all 18 of its markets by the end of 2024.