Pret A Manger has announced plans to rehire the 3,000 workers that were made redundant during the pandemic as it looks to bounce back from a poor Covid-hit financial year.
The company today said it plans to double the size of its business by 2026 with a £100m investment in places such as transport hubs and motorway service stations.
It said the 3,000 new staff members will join its workforce by 2023.
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The announcement comes as figures show the chain’s operating loss for the previous year, before tax, was £256.5m.
Pret’s revenue fell from £708m in 2019 to £229m in the covid-hit 2020 period.
Pret A Manger chief executive, Pano Christou, said: “Last year we were in the eye of the storm during the height of the pandemic.
“Now we have the chance to build a bright new future for Pret.
“What the pandemic has shown us is that even at the darkest moments, more people want to experience Pret – whether that’s customers outside of London and other big cities, new franchise partners who want to work with us here and overseas, investors in our business, or people who want to grow their careers here and be part of what we’re trying to build.”
Mr Christou said the chain hoped to open 200 more shops in the UK over the next two years.
The demand for these stores comes as commuters and office workers - a key market for the chain-begin to return to pre-covid habits.
3,000 staff at the chain lost their jobs in the height of the pandemic last year.
However, the number of employees working for Pret has risen by 28% since the start of the year, with more than 6,000 people in the UK employed by the company. 30% of these new workers are people who had previously been employed by Pret.
