Pret A Manger Pushing US Expansion

Pret A Manger (London) has signed a new joint venture partnership with its current franchisee, Dallas Intl., as part of plans to accelerate its growth in the U.S., The Retail Bulletin reports.

The joint venture will enable Dallas Intl. to operate around 50 Pret coffee/sandwich shops in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington D.C., and give it exclusive rights to open new shops in the markets. This will involve refurbishing a number of shops and working with Pret to develop and introduce new shop formats, including drive-thrus. It will also open more than 10 new Pret shops on the East Coast by 2026.

Pret’s existing relationship with Dallas includes separate franchise partnership agreements for Dallas to build and operate a range of Pret shops, including in the UK and more than 40 in southern California.

“We have huge ambitions for Pret to become a more globally recognized brand that is working in partnership with our franchisees to unlock significant growth in new markets,” said CEO Pano Christou. “This approach has driven significant growth in Europe and Asia and enabled Pret to track ahead of its mid-term global growth target to double the size of the business by 2026. We look forward to replicating these results in the United States, building upon our already successful partnership with Dallas as we jointly pursue our next phase of growth.”

Pret will also re-establish its presence in Chicago market in the near future, The Retail Bulletin reports, and is looking into opportunities in Texas, Florida and Washington state.