Pret serves up profit as office workers return

Pret has served up a profit for the first time since 2018 thanks to office workers returning to their desks. The slow but steady return helped the food and coffee chain back into the black in 2022, posting an annual operating profit of £50.6m, compared with a loss of £206.8m in 2021. Sales in the opening six months of this year were up 20.2% against the same period of 2022, at £429.9m. Pret experienced a record week of sales in May and then again in June. The chain, which has more than 600 branches worldwide, also benefitted from a strategy to move beyond its traditional London-focused core. More than half the UK shops it has opened over the past 18 months have been outside London. Its reliance on office workers has also lessened, with weekend sales almost quadrupling since 2021, and twice as many of its shops now open on Saturdays and Sundays. The Times (£)The FT (£)The Guardian