UK food chain Pret A Manger has announced that it will be installing vegetarian-only fridges in its shops following the success of its vegetarian-only stores.
The new fridges are currently in a month long trial, but could possibly remain in stores for the summer subject to performance.
The company opened its second Veggie Pret store in London recently after the success of its initial pop-up veggie store in Soho, which was later made permanent.
Pret CEO Clive Schlee said that the new fridges will be accompanied by monthly vegetarian and vegan specials created by the company's chefs.
“This approach does carry some risk and we are treading carefully,” he said. “I’m curious if our veggie menu will appeal more or less to customers when highlighted in a single fridge. Will it attract or deter our regular meat-eaters?”
Consumer Preference
Schlee referred to a survey carried out in 2015, which asked consumers if they would rather add a vegetarian fridge into every store, build a Veggie Pret, or simply do nothing.
“Fridges narrowly won the vote but we couldn’t resist the bigger challenge for our chefs, so we opened a Veggie Pret pop-up instead,” he said.
He commented that after the success of the two stores the chefs have “expanded Pret’s veggie and vegan offering to such an extent that we can now honour the outcome of the original vote.”
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Aidan O’Sullivan. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
