Pret A Manger unveils £13 supersized salad targeted at hybrid workers who 'want to treat themselves the days they are in the office' - would YOU buy it?
The coffee shop chain, which has almost 500 stores across the UK, says its new range of salmon, chicken and butternut squash dishes have been concocted with its in-house nutritionist to meet growing demand for bigger, healthy lunches.
Some of the dishes contain nearly 50 grams of protein and are, according to Pret, nearly 60 per cent bigger than its existing range of salads.
But the range of leafy greens and beans 'starts from' £9.95 - rising to £12.95 for the top-of-the-range miso salmon salad.
And prices will be even higher depending on location, with airport and train station branches charging more and 20 per cent VAT slapped on if customers want to eat it in-store.
Reaction to the new dishes has been mixed - with much opinion directed at the near-£13 price point and the ingredients, which include chargrilled chickpeas, quinoa and 'hand-massaged kale'. Existing salads retail for around £8.
But Pret - which has weathered the outcry after it scrapped its £30-a-month coffee subscription plan and is now being primed for a potential stock market listing - says it has done its homework and sees the salads as its next big hit.
Briony Raven, its chief customer and product officer, told MailOnline that it was 'perfect' for anyone 'quickly grabbing lunch on the go'.
'This new category is a significant step-change in our lunchtime line-up, which we believe will continue the growth we've seen in our existing salads range,' she added.
A spokesperson added that the price point matched the time it took for workers to put them together, claiming they take longer to prepare than other salads and baguettes.
'We have ensured our new Super Plates are priced competitively within the market for this type of lunchtime offer,' the spokesperson added.
The premium dishes will be available at 250 of Pret's stores across the UK, including major train stations and airports.
But the chain may have its work cut out convincing some that the 'super salads' are for them, judging by reaction on social media.
'I've not even spent £13 on a salad before in Waitrose. Think I'll be giving Pret a miss,' said one user on X.
'£13? Sod that, buy salad from a supermarket and make a week's worth for that,' wrote another.
Another pointed out that £13 is almost £1 more than the minimum wage for adults: the National Living Wage for those aged 21 and over is £12.21 an hour.
The chain has been here before: it was roundly criticised for selling a 'posh' cheddar cheese and pickle baguette for £7.15 at train stations in 2023.
And irate coffee lovers blasted the firm after it ditched its £30-a-month coffee subscription, which gave subscribers up to five free coffees a day.
It had been introduced after the pandemic to entice people back into stores but was suspected to be hugely unprofitable after failing to convince customers to also buy food in store, even with a 20 per cent discount.
The firm ultimately scrapped the all-in subscription in September last year and removed the discount, stating that it 'never got comfortable' with dual pricing.
A smaller number of people took to social media to defend the pricing of the 'premium' product
Pret has weathered similar storms over its pricing before - such as when it priced a cheese and pickle baguette at £7.15 when eaten in one of it stravel stores
It now offers Club Pret as a £5-a-month subscription that gives members up to five half-price barista-prepared drinks such as teas, coffees and smoothies each day.
It is confident that the new salads can capture a corner of the 'premium' lunchtime market amid a long overdue post-pandemic boom in on-the-go food sales brought about by a return to the office.
Sales of ready-to-eat food rose by 13.3 per cent year-on-year to £38.4billion, according to research from analytics firm Kantar published in September 2024.
Salad sales grew the most, by 19.2 per cent - but sandwiches are falling out of favour as workers opt for more adventurous options like sushi.
Experts say the boom is likely down to people returning to the office - with hybrid workers thought to 'treat' themselves on the days they leave the house.
The Grocer reported last year that there is an 'increasing willingness to spend among hybrid workers', with data suggesting they spend more per visit than frequent office workers.
Some early reaction appeared to align with the chain's thinking, with one user noting: 'It's not a cheap lunch but the quality's there. Sometimes you want a proper, filling salad and Pret's nailed the flavours compared to the comp(etition).'
Another added: 'I'd rather go to Pret and eat that for lunch while working on my laptop than pay over the odds... for a meal deal.'
Pret is not the only chain to look into the trend of people seeking bigger lunches.
A poll of 2,000 adults conducted for McDonalds by OnePoll last month found that one in four Brits skip breakfast on a regular basis.
Of those, 13 per cent wait to break their fast do so because they want a bigger lunch, The Sun reported.
Chipotle Chicken (£10.95)
Made with chargrilled chicken and a black bean mole sauce, served with brown rice, quinoa, red pepper and avocado.
Miso Salmon (£12.95)
Pret describes this as being served with 'golden roasted salmon' and togarashi chilli seeds, served alongside avocado, black rice, quinoa, Tenderstem broccoli and edamame beans.
Butternut Mezze (£9.95)
A vegan salad made with 'hand-massaged' kale, roasted butternut squash, aubergine and 'smoky' chickpeas alongside pickled cabbage and carrot, and hummus.
Shawarma Chicken (£10.95)
This Middle Eastern-inspired dish mixes chargrilled chicken with a spiced sauce, chickpeas, 'hand-massaged' kale, red pepper, cucumber sticks and hummus.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
TTG
9 minutes ago
- TTG
Sunlounger Travel launches search for sixth shop after landing £10,000 from Jet2
Once the new shop is open, staff are given free rein to run the business as they see fit. They can also draw on admin support from Kirkbright's separate digital marketing business, Chaos Internet, which is based in March, Cambridgeshire. He said: 'We've got an administration department that will help when they need them – some of our stores really like to make use of it, while some prefer to do everything in house. "Each store runs independently, although we speak to them on a day-to-day basis. We don't want to be micro-managing – they know what they're doing so we let them do what they do best.' Once opened, the shop will be Sunlounger's sixth. Kirkbright has previously said the business could ultimately grow to have as many as 25 shops. He also thanked and Jet2holidays for its financial support, which he said was a sign of the operator's ongoing support for travel agents across the UK.
Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
Trump's watered-down copper tariffs almost crush Comex premium
BEIJING, July 31 (Reuters) - Benchmark copper prices on the London Metals Exchange rose at the open on Thursday as markets continued to claw back the once-mighty U.S. copper price premium in response to the scaled-down U.S. copper tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump. Trump said on Wednesday the United States would impose a 50% tariff on copper pipes and wiring, but the levy fell short of the sweeping restrictions expected and left out copper input materials such as ores, concentrates and cathodes. The surprise move dragged down U.S. copper prices more than 18% on the Comex exchange HGc2 and unwound a large part of the premium over the London global benchmark CMCU3 that had grown in recent weeks, with shipments diverted there in anticipation of higher domestic prices. 'We think the LME flips to a premium in the short term due to excess inventories in the U.S.," Anant Jatia, founder and chief investment officer at Greenland Investment Management, a hedge fund specialising in commodity arbitrage trading, told Reuters. "Over time Comex moves back to a premium as inventories draw and downstream tariffs leave a sustained U.S. premium." Benchmark LME copper gained 0.9% to $9,785 a metric ton after markets opened on Thursday. U.S. September Comex copper futures HGc2 briefly hit $4.5095 a lb or $9,941.6 per metric ton, down 19%, shortly after the LME opened before moving back up to hover around 4.5635 a lb or 10,061 a metric ton. At the low, the premium over the London benchmark had fallen to just $157 a ton from recent levels above $3,000 a ton. That premium has sucked in enormous volumes of copper from around the world this year. As recently as a few weeks ago, traders were still redirecting cargoes to the United States in a rush to get copper in country before the tariffs. Trump first teased the tariff in early July, implying that it would apply to all types of the red metal, ranging from cathodes produced by mines and smelters to wiring and other finished products. Yet in a proclamation released by the White House, the administration said the tariff will apply starting this Friday only to pipes, tubes and other semi-finished copper products, as well as products that copper is heavily used to manufacture, including cable and electrical components.
BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Hotel tycoon reveals Heathrow runway expansion proposal
Hotel tycoon Surinder Arora has announced he is submitting a Heathrow expansion plan which rivals a proposal from the airport's billionaire's Arora Group said the "primary benefit" of the plan it submitted to the government was a shorter new runway which would avoid the costly and disruptive need to divert the M25 a 2,800-metre third runway instead of the full-length 3,500-metre runway planned by the airport would result in "reduced risk" and avoid "spiralling cost", the company airport declined to comment on the Arora Group's proposal. A shorter runway could have limits on its use, although Arora Group insisted it would be able to accommodate aircraft of all announcement means that for the first time, there will be two bids on the table to build a third runway at Heathrow. Arora Group said its plan, called Heathrow West, could have a new runway fully operational by 2035, while a new terminal would open in two phases, in 2036 and plan, developed with infrastructure company Bechtel, has a cost estimate of under £25 billion, not including the redevelopment of the airport's existing central said in 2018 it could complete its runway for £14 billion, but it is now expected to cost billions June, the government invited competing proposals for Heathrow's expansion and set a deadline of 31 Arora, who is one of the largest landowners at Heathrow, said: "After a decade working with our world-leading design and delivery team, I am very proud that the Arora Group can finally unveil to the UK government our Heathrow West proposal."The Arora Group has a proven track record of delivering on-time and on-budget projects including in and around Heathrow airport."We are delighted that the government has taken a common-sense approach to invite proposals from all interested parties for the very first time rather than granting exclusivity to the current airport operator, no matter its track record."Mr Arora has repeatedly accused the airport of wasting money. Carlton Brown, CEO of Heathrow West, said the new company would be able to dedicate time and focus to the expansion while working with stakeholders including airlines, communities and business."Ultimately, I want to see Heathrow help Britain become the best-connected nation in the world and facilitate the trade and inward investment our UK economy needs," he December 2024, French company Ardian completed a deal to become Heathrow's largest shareholder with a 23% stake, while Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund purchased a 15% Rachel Reeves gave her backing for a third runway in a speech on growth in will submit its own expansion plan to the government on had planned to create a third runway by rerouting the M25 motorway between junctions 14 and 15 through a tunnel under the new runway. After receiving the proposals, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander will review the Airports National Policy Statement, which provides the basis for decision-making on any Development Consent Order is understood to be open to a discussion with airlines about building a shorter runway if it can deliver the same expanded, the number of flights at Heathrow Airport could go up to 720,000 - or nearly 2,000 a day on average. They are currently capped at 480,000 a told the BBC that it would eventually be able to serve up to 140 million passengers a year once a third runway is in operation. Paul McGuinness, chair of the No 3rd Runway Coalition, said they were concerned that thousands of people would have to be rehomed for the plans to move added: "There's a real danger that we'll end up with a hole in the ground and a debt pile for taxpayers to underwrite, because the government had foolishly encouraged Heathrow's profligate self-interest, as if blind to the lessons of HS2."In the past, the cost, the Covid pandemic and legal challenges have all got in the way of any development. A third runway was first proposed in 2009 by Gordon Brown's Labour government but was only finally given the go-ahead by the Supreme Court in 2020. 'Growth is important' The last bid sunk was partly by a legal challenge from five local councils and the Mayor of London. Several members of the current government - including Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer - voted against a Heathrow expansion when in Sir Keir told the BBC that the government has climate commitments, "but growth is really important too".Asked in January this year, when the government announced that it was in favour of a third runway, London's mayor Sir Sadiq Khan refused to rule out joining any future legal challenge to expansion.
