Popular sandwich shop chain raises eyebrows with £13 salad range
The new range, which includes Miso Salmon and Chipotle Chicken options, is 60 per cent larger than existing salads and features premium ingredients.
Pret stated that sales of its salads have grown significantly, three times faster than sandwiches, prompting the introduction of these new protein-packed options.
However, the high price of the "Super Plates" has sparked widespread debate and outrage among social media users, who criticised the cost for a salad.
The new salad range will be available in 250 Pret stores across the UK, including major cities like London, Edinburgh, Manchester, and Birmingham, from Thursday, 9 July.
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The Sun
16 minutes ago
- The Sun
7 clever tricks Primark does to keep you walking & buying more than you need – & how to avoid overspending
PRIMARK is famous for its budget-friendly fashion and beauty items, but it also employs some clever tactics to encourage you to spend more. Like many retailers, it uses subtle — and often unnoticed — strategies designed to get you to part with a bit more of your money than you intended. 4 Dr Jansson-Boyd, who is an associate professor at Anglia Ruskin University, told The Sun: "As a store, Primark uses a high number of well-known marketing aspects that we know customers respond effectively to." Here are some little-known tricks Primark shoppers should know about… 1. CAFES FOR 'DWELL TIME' Primark serves over a million shoppers every day in more than 400 worldwide stores and racks up over £5billion in annual revenue. And experts claim they try to keep customers in store for as long as possible. Speaking on the Channel 5 documentary Primark: How Do They Do It? Consumer journalist Harry Wallop said: 'It's a phrase used in the retail industry 'dwell time'. 'You don't want people to just come in and buy an item and leave. 'You want someone to come in, look for the item, think 'that looks like a nice cafe. I'll stop there, I'll then buy something else'. 'On the way you spot another bit of homewares, it's only £5. 'If you can increase the dwell time you are onto a winning formula and you have justified the high expense of operating a high street store.' Spanning 160,000 square feet spread over five floors, the Birmingham store - their biggest worldwide - is certainly a destination in itself. It also boasts a hairdresser salon, nail bar, eyebrow grooming and a barber's. 2. NO-BRAINER PRICES While some people head in stores for the haul items, others go just for the store's 'basics'. psychologist Dr Amna Khana added: 'Primark's essential components of their products are generally built on basic, staple products that don't necessarily always change.' Retail consultant Nicole Higgins continued: 'Generally with clothing, 20 per cent of your range will make up 80 per cent of your sales. 'If you go into Primark's lingerie department, they will have hundreds of styles, lots and lots of different colours but probably the items that are making the most amount of money are the five-pack knickers, the basic T-shirt bras. 'They are the core bread-and-butter products.' 3. DELIBERATELY FOLDED ITEMS 4 In any Primark store, you will often see a fair amount of clothing items folded on shelves. While you may think this is done to save space, it's actually just another way to get shoppers to part with more cash. Dr Jansson-Boyd said: "When items are folded, shoppers can't fully see what it is until they go and pick it up and unfold it. "It is well-known that once consumers touch an item, they take on psychological ownership. "This increases the likelihood of purchase as they feel that the item belongs to them." 4. TILL TEMPTATION 4 If you're an avid Primark shopper, you'll know that you can often spend just as long waiting in the queue as you do browsing the store. But Dr Jansson-Boyd said the technique of "funnelling" people to line up along the tills gives shoppers more time to grab a last-minute item, such as socks, face wipes and shopper bags. She explained: "Along the funnel, there are various small bits and pieces that tend to have a broader appeal. "And as people get bored waiting, they often pick up additional items as they are readily there. "Some of those items are sweets – which people buy as an added treat for a job well done." 5. TRENDY DECOR Primark stores are lively, bright and feel quite youthful - and this is all intentional, Dr Jansson-Boyd said. "The stores use cues for their younger target markets. "This includes neon type signs and slogans on signage such as 'find your amazing'. "This suggests that you can be fabulous by buying something from Primark. "This is the type of messaging that Gen-Z responds effectively to." 6. NO CLOCKS OR WINDOWS 4 Ever find yourself losing track of time when you are browsing in Primark? It turns out that the lack of clocks or windows can be strategic in the retail world. Retail expert Burt Flickinger, told CNN: 'Windowless shopping creates an environment of consumption without distractions. 'When people have a sense of timelessness and comfort, families spend more because they can focus just on the stores and the mall experience.' 7. SOCIAL MEDIA GAME You may have been influenced to spend more at Primark before you even set foot in the shop, according to their own team. Finance director John Bason at Associated British Food, which owns Primark, told Drapers: 'One of the main areas where Primark has got stronger is driving our footfall through social media. 'On Instagram we're up to nearly 7 million followers, which allows for targeted marketing. 'A number of our collaborations have worked very well, including with [influencer] Alice Liveing, and we are working on future collections with others for this year.'
The Guardian
16 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Storm brews over Nationwide chief executive's pay package worth up to £7m
It has been a career-defining summer for Debbie Crosbie. Three years after taking over as the chief executive of Nationwide Building Society, the straight-talking Glaswegian has become a darling of the Labour government: awarded a damehood, namechecked in the chancellor's Mansion House speech and hailed for furthering a Labour party manifesto pledge to double the size of the mutuals sector. But outside Westminster's warm embrace, a storm has been brewing. A 43% increase to Crosbie's maximum pay package, worth up to £7m per year, is due to be rubber-stamped without a binding vote by members, effectively sidelining any opposition at Nationwide's annual shareholder meeting on Friday. It has prompted outrage among campaigners who say it is the latest sign that the 140-year-old building society is losing its way. Those critics believe Nationwide, which was founded in 1884 in south London as the Southern Co-operative Permanent Building Society, has deviated from its roots. Although owned by its members, it bought Virgin Money for £2.9bn last year without asking for their approval and critics claim it is centralising power at the top while diluting the voice of its members. But the industry is backing Crosbie, recognising the 55-year-old former TSB boss's role in pulling the sector into the political limelight. 'The truth is that mutuals have often been seen as niche: a 'nice to have but not essential',' says Peter Hunt, the founder of UK-based mutuals consultancy Mutuo. Now industry bosses are hosted at No 10 summer garden parties and asked to join a government-run Mutual and Cooperative Sector Business Council. This autumn, ministers will launch a consultation on how to double the size of the sector, in line with Labour's manifesto pledge. This kind of state-level attention, Hunt says, 'has moved the dial'. It is a sign that the sector has finally recovered from a wave of demutualisations in the 1990s that turned the likes of Abbey National, Bradford & Bingley, Halifax and Northern Rock into shareholder-owned banks. It was a blow to the UK's building societies movement, which traces its history back to Birmingham in 1775 when a group of friends, desperate to get on the housing ladder, pooled their resources to buy land and building materials. But by the time the 2008 financial crisis erupted, most demutualised firms were either acquired or nationalised through state bailouts. It left survivors such as Nationwide proud of how their simpler, more risk-averse business models, focused on savings and home loans, survived the financial implosion. Seventeen years later, Nationwide is the jewel in the sector's crown, with 17 million members and £368bn in assets. It is the second largest mortgage provider behind Lloyds, with a 12.5% share of the market. 'Nationwide is a domestically systemic banking institution,' the Building Societies Association (BSA) chief executive, Robin Fieth, says. 'It gives scale and importance to the whole of our sector.' But some believe Nationwide's growth has come at the expense of its democratic roots. While building societies centre on the idea of 'one member, one vote', there has been 'a boiling frog problem', according to James Sherwin-Smith, a longtime Nationwide customer who has campaigned to join the board as a voice for members. He says Nationwide has been 'debasing … member rights … despite all the lovely positive PR that Nationwide puts out about having your say, and that they're a beacon for mutual good. When I scratch the surface of that, I do not find substance.' Fury erupted last year over Nationwide's decision to not hold a member vote over its takeover of Virgin Money, while the takeover target's own shareholders had a say. But there are other longstanding issues, including Nationwide's use of 'quick vote' options, which make it easier to back the board's recommendations rather than cast individual or dissenting votes at its annual general meeting. There are also concerns that Nationwide has retained online-only AGMs, even after Covid lockdowns were lifted, in a move that risks disenfranchising members without internet access. Meanwhile, some members say it can be difficult to get a resolution or election on the ballot, requiring 250 to 500 endorsements from members, whose contact details can be a challenge to access due to data rules. Their signatures only qualify under strict conditions and can be disqualified if their balances or loans fall below a certain level – £100 or £200 in most cases – over the preceding two years. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion Edwin Fisher of the Building Societies Members Association says that while Nationwide is the biggest of the mutuals sector, it is also the 'most controversial, and has, in our opinion, the lowest standards of corporate governance'. 'They regularly churn out the line that members are the owners, but we all know that members have no say in anything,' Fisher adds, noting that if the UK faced another wave of demutualisation, Nationwide 'would be ripe' to exit. Nationwide has not expressed any intention of demutualising. But its board says banker-level pay is necessary if it hopes to compete with the likes of Lloyds and NatWest. Fisher says members only want Nationwide to compete with banks on size, but not on pay or purpose. Furthermore, Nationwide's operations are far less complex than most banks: Crosbie does not have to manage an investment bank or international operations, nor relationships with shareholders. Even after the Virgin Money takeover, it remains a much simpler operation focused on mortgages. But Hunt says it would be inappropriate to measure Crosbie and her pay against bosses at much smaller building societies. 'She's the Lionel Messi of British building societies,' he said. 'And she could play for any of the banks, so this is how they keep her in the Nationwide shirt.' The problem for democratically minded members is that the Building Societies Act may not be fit for Nationwide's size. It means that, unlike its listed bank rivals, Nationwide is not required to hold binding votes on new pay proposals, like the one that could hand Crosbie up to £7m. While it could volunteer to hold a binding vote, Nationwide has refused. When asked whether the Building Societies Association would support reforming the act, Fieth said 'it's not a measure we'd oppose' but admitted it was not 'No 1 on our shopping list'. Hunt also questioned whether members were 'equipped' to have a binding say on pay. 'If I was a member of Nationwide, how would I be equipped to know what any executive should get paid? How would I know? Just because I didn't like the number? If you had a vote on MPs' pay, I guarantee you the vast majority of the public will want them to [be paid] less,' he said. (The basic salary for an MP is £93,904.) Fieth echoed that argument, saying some members 'found it difficult' to relate to the sums involved. 'When you've got a balance sheet that's £300bn, most people can't compute that at all.' He said members should still be asking questions, but needed to keep long-term performance and innovation in mind. 'Henry Ford said that if you'd asked people what they wanted at the beginning of the 20th century, they'd have said faster horses.' Sherwin-Smith said it was the board's burden to keep members informed. 'They should educate people and let them [hold a binding] vote, but to say you're too stupid to have a say is the wrong attitude.' Nationwide declined the Guardian's interview requests, but said it regularly engages with a panel of 6,500 members and surveys 500,000 members each year. It also said members have a chance to vote to re-elect board directors every year. 'From the extensive engagement that we have with our members, we cannot see any evidence that our leading customer service, support for first-time buyers, growing market shares and record member financial value is in any way controversial,' Nationwide said. It previously said pay proposals although advisory, 'always received overwhelming member support' and that Nationwide's strong performance was driven in part by its ability to 'attract, retain and motivate talented leaders.'
Telegraph
16 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Trump has every right to berate the technocrats
Knucklehead or numbskull? Donald Trump uses both terms to describe Jerome Powell, the chairman of the US Federal Reserve. It depends on which day of the week it is. His attacks on Powell are now so frequent they have lost the power to shock, but imagine the horror if Sir Keir Starmer started regularly describing Andrew Bailey, the Governor of the Bank of England, as a nitwit or a simpleton. Or if France's president, Emmanuel Macron, were to refer to Christine Lagarde, the president of the European Central Bank, as a 'nigaud' or 'crétin'. Imagine also if they let it be known that they were examining ways of ridding themselves of their troublesome monetary priests, as Trump has done in the US. The entire political and economic establishment would be up in arms and there would be mayhem in the bond markets. Yet Trump is Trump and iconoclasm comes with the territory. Trump's bark may in practice turn out to be worse than his bite. It often does. It is none the less worth considering whether in this instance he might not have a point. Looked at objectively, the unwritten understanding that presiding governments should never criticise their central banks is one of the modern world's more absurd conventions. Of course, we all know how it came about. It was part of a much wider shift in which key parts of government were removed from direct political control and vested instead with independent technocrats. Free from the need to win elections, it was argued, these arms-length bodies would do a much better job than the politicians in keeping things on the straight and narrow. In Britain, granting the Bank of England independent control of monetary policy, was very much part of the then-Labour government's attempt to sanitise itself with markets and present the UK as a trusted and stable monetary regime that had finally put its post-war inflationary past behind it. As with most other central banks, independence has been buttressed by provisions that make it virtually impossible to sack the incumbent governor except in the case of madness or misfeasance. Much as he would like to dismiss Powell, even Trump has struggled to find a way around these guardrails. The ballooning costs of renovating the Federal Reserve's grandiose Washington headquarters may be evidence of public sector waste and incompetence but it is not, on the face of it, a case of outright fraud. All the same, the lavish nature of the Fed's refurbishment touches a chord that characterises central banks as out of control, unaccountable and often just plain wrong. And now they build themselves palaces and cathedrals as symbols of the once-ruling idolatry. Admittedly, Trump's own vulgar redecoration of the Oval Office in his trademark gold chintz is in some respects just as bad, even if far less expensive. But at least Trump is elected, while Powell is a mere appointee. This in itself is causing much amusement, for in this week describing Powell as a 'terrible' chairman, Trump added that he was 'surprised he was appointed', seeming to forget that it was he who originally chose him. He soon regretted it and, by the end of Trump's first presidency, the two were barely on speaking terms.
