Veggie Pret Experiment Hailed as Massive Success!

Since changing their store in Soho, London to offer exclusively Vegetarian/Vegan items:

• Sales have skyrocketed over a staggering 70 percent.
• Shop is so busy some customers sit on the floor.
• The CEO noted "A meat free environment seems to generate an infectious positive energy".
• Although vegetarian items are sold, the top 8 best selling items sold are all completely vegan.

The original plan was to run the store as an experiment and close it after 4 weeks, Pret expected to see sales drop at the store drop by 30% but instead their sales have increased by over 70%.

At times the store is packed with people and customers have even started taking to sitting on the floor to eat their food.

Due to the store's runaway success Pret's CEO, Clive Schlee is considering keeping the store open a little longer - to see if it's just initial hype. Schlee notes there are have been discussions around converting every fourth Pret into a Veggie Pret to explore it's success in other locations.

The top 8 best selling items were all vegan, which either shows how strong the vegan movement is - or how delicious vegan food can be to non-vegans also.

The top two selling products at Veggie Pret are the Dairy-free Chocolatey Coconut Bite (a vegan bar) and the Cacao & Orange Pot (a vegan dessert).

Schlee notes:

"Like all good ideas, Pret’s exclusively veggie shop seemed radical when we first thought of it, but has come to feel very natural. Vegetarianism is becoming much more mainstream and of course the more vegetarian food is available and the more attractive the textures and flavours, the less of a sacrifice you have to make."

This has taken us completely by surprise. Sales at Broadwick St, far from falling, are up over 70% on last year. The shop is packed and this is the first time I have seen customers in London sitting on the floor to eat their lunch. The energy of the shop is also quite remarkable, in fact a friend of mine likened it to a Beyoncé concert (I’ve never been to one myself)! A number of visitors to London have come to Soho specifically to see the shop. Customers are taking photos of the food, writing down the ingredients, and giving us messages of overwhelming support on the notice board. A meat free environment seems to generate an infectious positive energy.

It’s early days, and we are having a big internal debate about this. The original idea was to close the shop after four weeks, but we are now inclined to keep it open slightly longer to see whether demand is still as strong once the initial hype dies down. There are some who would like to convert every fourth Pret into a Veggie Pret, and to explore its success in other markets too."