History
The first shop called Pret a Manger was opened in Hampstead, London, United Kingdom, in 1984 by Jeffrey Hyman and a group of stakeholders from the ad agency and showbiz world.
The name Prêt à Manger (, ready to eat) was coined by Hyman's sister Valerie Tomalin, who morphed the title from prêt-à-porter, meaning "ready-to-wear". The outlet focused on gourmet, ready-to-eat food which was inspired by what the traiteurs of Paris served; the store's design was inspired by steel and chrome sandwich bars in New York City.
The store was located opposite Hampstead Underground station, had its own kitchen, and offered ready-to-eat French food. Most of the products were sold for "take away" (in America, "to go"), but there was also a small cafe area for customers to eat and drink in the store.
To advertise, the company used poster sites, the London Underground, local press and door-to-door leafleting.
The company traded at 58 Hampstead High Street for a year. It closed following the erection of maintenance scaffolding outside the shop by The Greater London Council which stayed in place for 18 months. It was sold by company liquidator David Rubin to college friends Sinclair Beecham and Julian Metcalfe (who later founded the Itsu chain of sushi cafes); the two met while studying at the Polytechnic of Central London.
Beecham and Metcalfe had little business experience. Their company claims they "created the sort of food they craved but could not find anywhere else." They opened their first branch near Victoria Station, London.
In 2001, McDonald's bought a 33% non-controlling stake in the USA branch of the company, which they sold in 2008 to private equity firm Bridgepoint Capital, owners of clothing retailer Fat Face.
In 2011 its sales were 377 million pounds.
As of 2012, efforts were underway in London to unionize shop employees.
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