Pret à Manger opens first motorway service shop in year-long trial

Expected to open at the South Mimms Services at the end of the summer, the site will have its own kitchen, and serve a wide selection of the usual Pret menu, including fresh sandwiches, wraps, baguettes, and hot meal choices, alongside fruit, snacks, and tea and coffee.

Should the first venue be successful it is expected that more Prets will open in service stations, according to Welcome Break.

The news comes just over a month after Pret announced the opening of its vegetarian-only site in London’s Soho, and just over a year after it first trialled a dinnertime service at its location on London’s Strand.

Pret A Manger chief executive Clive Schlee, said: “This is a new area for the Pret business, and one we’re looking forward to exploring. We’ll obviously have our own kitchen on the premises, allowing us to serve motorway customers with fresh, natural food, handmade throughout the day.”

Rod McKie, chief executive of Welcome Break, said: “Welcome Break is very excited about the prospect of working with Pret on the UK motorways. I am confident that this trial will be successful and lead to a long term partnership with Pret A Manger.”

First opened in London in 1986, Pret was bought in February 2008 by private equity firm Bridgepoint in a majority stake, and now operates over 400 shops, priding itself on having no sell-by dates and giving all unsold food to charity at the end of the day.

Welcome Break was formed in 1959, and operates a host of food and retail brands including Starbucks, Harry Ramsden’s, KFC and Burger King.