Pret a manger

Pret a Manger

There are few companies where the head office prioritises the store staff so strongly as Pret-a-Manger. This food chain believes that as long as its staff are happy, this will reflect on the customers. And they have certainly been proven right. The chain is enjoying amazing growth worldwide and has an enormous fan base.

Pret-a-Manger doesn't actually assess its store staff primarily in terms of the tastiest coffee or how quickly they can operate a cash till, but rather mainly on the cheerfulness radiated towards customers and each other. They do so by sending mystery shoppers to the stores on a weekly basis, every week. And if the mystery shoppers give the staff a positive assessment for cheerfulness, each staff member that branch receives a wage bonus of one pound that week! It's a great reward that is achieved by more than 80% of the branches every week. Moreover, the mystery shoppers may hand out gift vouchers to individual staff members when detecting desirable behaviour, such as helping to lift a baby pram or giving senior citizens an extra biscuit. Staff members enjoy the recognition of their good behaviour, and as a customer you know that the atmosphere will be pleasurable.

The success of this philosophy was proven by the fact that the chain was sold for two billion dollars last year. And what do you do as a chain that prioritises its staff members? You give each of them a 1,000 pound bonus. All 12,000 staff members, regardless of their rank or position!

Retail Bites · Kega
Retail Bites · Kega
11 July, 2016

from megastore to city concept the fast growth is normal innovation on staff nike house of innovation in line for your f...

Unilevers's T2 · Kega
Unilevers's T2 · Kega
5 April, 2017

Unilever’s T2 Australian tea retailer T2 is really causing a stir on the international tea scene. Ever since this brand ...

How instagrammable are you? · Kega
How instagrammable are you? · Kega
28 October, 2018

How Instagrammable are you? All brands recognize the power of social influencers, but they also get pretty browned off t...