Up next in 10
The move to working from home (WFH) and hybrid office policies post-pandemic are having an impact on where Pret A Manger is considering opening new stores, its UK boss has said.
Speaking to Jon Robinson on this episode of City AM's Boardroom Uncovered podcast, Clare Clough said the business is having to adjust to the changes in working patterns and locations.
She said the result will be the brand looking to launch stores "where people live as much as areas where people work, especially in London".
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Produced by: Jon Robinson, Joseph Curay Teneda, Emmanuel Nwosu
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0:00
we have some really good competition
0:01
around us but is there a particular
0:03
issue that keeps you awake at night i
0:05
can't say that there is actually i'm I'm
0:07
I'm annoyingly a really great sleeper we
0:10
are very much living in a world where
0:11
hybrid working exists and will continue
0:13
to do so we have to adjust the business
0:14
around that that's why you've seen us
0:16
open more shops in maybe areas where
0:18
people live as much as areas that where
0:20
people work especially in London so sort
0:22
of the the outer areas of greater London
0:25
you know competition is good and we have
0:26
some really good competition around us
0:28
we have some emerging competition that I
0:30
think is showing lots of
0:31
entrepreneurship and and lots of new
0:33
companies coming uh onto the high street
0:35
but we also have some maybe more
0:37
traditional competitors many of whom are
0:39
sort of really performing well and and
0:41
you know upping their game and and and
0:43
that's great i think that's a a really
0:44
good thing it's healthy competition i
0:46
think it's good for consumers i think
0:47
that will then help to to drive um the
0:50
growth agenda as well hello and welcome
0:51
to another edition of City AM's
0:53
Boardroom Uncovered with me John
0:54
Robinson my guest for this episode is
0:56
the managing director of Pressa MJ in
0:58
the UK Cla Kloff the MD has climbed the
1:01
ranks at Press after first joining
1:02
almost 15 years ago and is now in charge
1:04
of growing one of the UK's high street
1:06
staples but with rising taxes and the
1:09
economic environment continuing to be
1:10
challenging what are Kluff's plans for
1:12
keeping Pratt at the center of workers
1:14
breakfast and lunch schedules without
1:16
any further delay let's dive in claire
1:18
thank you for so much for coming on
1:19
boarding uncovered it's great to have
1:21
you thank you for having me i suppose
1:22
the first question is what's your press
1:24
order oh that's a great question so in
1:26
the morning uh it's an oat flat white i
1:28
either have um the sausage and egg pot
1:31
or I have the blueberry balance bowl so
1:33
depending on whether I'm feeling you
1:34
know like a want something hot or cold
1:36
um and then lunchtime I love uh the salt
1:39
beef fry roll that's my favorite we only
1:40
launched it a couple of years ago but it
1:42
was a firm favorite from the first day
1:44
ever tempted by the competition um yeah
1:46
i mean look I it's part of my job to
1:48
know what's going on in the competition
1:50
so yeah and I and I admire everyone in
1:53
the industry so I'm a I'm a food
1:54
industry person through and through so
1:56
I'm out and about in our shops but also
1:58
in other people's shops and I think look
1:59
there's a lot of great stuff going on in
2:01
the sector at the minute so as long as
2:02
we keep doing you know even better than
2:04
everyone else that's great yeah and the
2:06
staff discount must be pretty enjoyable
2:08
as well it's good it's good it's
2:10
obviously a perk um but I think you know
2:14
I was a prep customer long before I
2:15
joined and and had the staff discount as
2:18
well so yeah yeah well you've been at
2:19
Prep for almost 15 years what's kept you
2:22
there for so long it's going to sound a
2:24
bit cheesy but I genuinely just love my
2:26
job i love the business um I love the
2:28
brand i love what we stand for the
2:29
products that we produce um and our
2:31
teams in our shops are amazing so I've
2:34
just enjoyed every minute of my time and
2:36
as they say um time flies when you're
2:38
having fun and it certainly has in my
2:39
case yeah absolutely have you been able
2:41
to have fun even in the last few years
2:43
or so obviously coming out of the
2:45
pandemic cost of living crisis inflation
2:48
and and now we've got the uncertainty in
2:50
the global economy it's difficult to
2:51
have fun when it's challenging times i
2:53
think look um challenge is is is part of
2:56
leadership and I think you knowve I've
2:58
always found um that facing into some of
3:00
the challenges is is part of the job and
3:02
you have to you know see how you can
3:04
find the best ways through and work with
3:05
the team um so yes it's been um a
3:09
challenging few years you know it's no
3:10
secret that the global pandemic hit us
3:12
quite hard uh being very sort of city
3:15
centric and transport locations it was a
3:17
big impact to the business um but you
3:19
couldn't go around it you had to go
3:21
through it uh and so being part of you
3:23
know leading the business out of the
3:24
post-pandemic period uh you know has
3:26
been challenging but it has actually
3:27
been you know very rewarding as well i
3:29
think you know I feel very proud of the
3:31
shape that the business is in today and
3:32
the way that we've recovered after such
3:34
a you know near-death crisis really
3:36
you've been able to recover of course
3:38
and the country's reopened after
3:40
successive lockdowns as we know but then
3:42
it's been hit by loads of other
3:44
challenges we've got the cost of living
3:46
crisis we've got inflation we've got the
3:49
maybe the increased friction in global
3:52
trade that's going on at the moment how
3:54
is that impacting Pratt and what are you
3:56
doing to insulate yourselves from that
3:59
for PrET in in the UK and Ireland we you
4:01
know the majority of products that we
4:02
source are sourced locally so it's not a
4:04
it's not a major impact for us as it it
4:06
stands at the moment um and as with all
4:09
of the challenges I think we have to
4:10
just look at it in the round and try and
4:12
address those as as much as we can um
4:14
we're trying to put the customer at the
4:15
center of all of our decision-m you know
4:17
we win or lose by our customers uh
4:19
choice to shop with us or not um so we
4:21
just have to remain mindful of that and
4:23
take sort of measured decisions um
4:25
clearly there's inflation in the market
4:26
and from time to time you know we have
4:28
to pass some of that on but as far as
4:30
possible we try and find ways to
4:32
mitigate that and to change things
4:33
internally to to avoid that having to be
4:35
the case so um yes it's it's obviously
4:38
been a challenging environment but you
4:40
know pleased with the way that business
4:41
is coming through it yeah we've not just
4:43
got the tariffs of course in the US
4:44
we've got the increase in the minimum
4:46
wage we've got the increase in employees
4:48
national insurance contributions it is
4:50
is inevitable therefore that companies
4:52
like PrET has to pass on some of that
4:54
increased cost to the customer inflation
4:57
in every part of the market it sometimes
4:59
does become inevitable but you know our
5:01
as I said our sort of responsibility
5:03
first is to look at what we can do to
5:05
sort of offset that or mitigate it as we
5:07
can um and our teams have been working
5:08
really hard to do that you know the the
5:10
national minimum wage increase of course
5:12
has a significant impact on a business
5:13
that employs thousands of people um but
5:16
we want to make sure that you know we
5:17
find ways to to work around that as far
5:19
as possible and from time to time with
5:21
inflation in wages and ingredients does
5:23
that result in um some price increases
5:26
yes yes it does but you know our first
5:28
priority is to try and avoid that being
5:30
passed on directly to the customers how
5:32
do you do that how does what does that
5:34
look like in practice so we work really
5:36
hard with our suppliers to look at ways
5:38
that we can drive efficiencies into our
5:39
supply chain for example um really proud
5:41
to say we never do that by reducing
5:43
portion sizes or quality of ingredients
5:45
but we do look at ways to be more
5:47
efficient together um and we also sort
5:49
of take the advantage of the growth and
5:51
the new openings that we have to drive
5:52
those efficiencies in into the supply
5:53
chain as well and on all of our ways of
5:55
working across the business we've talked
5:57
you know over the last five years or so
5:58
it has been challenging um how has that
6:01
impacted your leadership have you
6:04
learned something new about yourself
6:05
that you didn't previously know i think
6:08
I probably learned that I was more
6:09
resilient than perhaps I I knew I was um
6:12
but I think what it sort of instills in
6:15
you is you know the passion that you
6:17
have for the business that you lead and
6:19
I think you know I I generally try and
6:21
lead with with great passion and and
6:23
energy and and I think that coupled with
6:26
um resilience has has stood me in in
6:28
goodstead um I think you know various
6:32
challenges have have come up along the
6:34
way and you take each one as it comes
6:35
and you sort of find a way to to lead
6:37
your team and and the business through
6:39
that but I think it's resilience
6:40
probably that I that I found a bit more
6:41
of than I perhaps knew I had and we're
6:44
recording this in the heart of the city
6:45
of London you can't throw a stone
6:47
without hitting three preps but um
6:49
you've obviously got hundreds of of
6:51
sites across the UK do you go and visit
6:55
those do you go up and down the country
6:56
in incognito maybe so it's quite hard to
6:59
go incognito um so you can often get
7:02
away with I find when I do shop tours
7:04
which I do every week um both with panel
7:06
CEO in London but also with members of
7:08
of my leadership team and the and the
7:10
operation leads I find that sometimes
7:12
you might get a couple of shops in
7:14
before you know word gets out that that
7:16
you're in the area um but I I also you
7:19
know I'm a I'm a prep customer in uh
7:21
weekends and holidays so sometimes if
7:23
you're sort of you know a bit less
7:24
expected you you can be incognito
7:26
actually one of the things I love about
7:28
shop visits is the opportunity to talk
7:29
to the teams to find out what's really
7:31
on their mind they are having you know
7:33
the direct relationship with the
7:34
customers um and they can tell us
7:36
exactly how you know customer sentiment
7:38
is and and how things are working for
7:40
them you know if we've launched new
7:42
products how they're going through the
7:43
kitchens what's selling what's not
7:44
selling so actually um I don't I I tend
7:47
to introduce myself and and take the
7:49
opportunity to spend some time with them
7:50
and to find out a little bit what's
7:52
going on from their perspective there is
7:54
no disguise no maybe that maybe that's
7:56
something yeah absolutely um I want to
7:59
talk about work life balance i suppose
8:01
Press is that classic company that would
8:03
be in favor of everybody returning to
8:04
the office no more hybrid working
8:06
because you get more people on the
8:07
streets and more people visiting your
8:10
stores um Press Head Office what's the
8:13
work life uh what's work life balance
8:16
like and return to work so we operate
8:18
hybrid working at our own office um and
8:20
I definitely don't think it's for us to
8:21
sort of set the policy on where people
8:23
should be working i think it's for us to
8:25
adapt our business to kind of suit the
8:27
needs of consumers and now we do you
8:29
know we are very much living in a world
8:30
where hybrid working exists and will
8:32
continue to do so so you know we have to
8:34
adjust the business around that that's
8:35
why you've seen us open more shops in um
8:38
you know maybe areas where people live
8:40
as much as areas that where people work
8:42
especially in London so sort of the the
8:44
outer areas of greater London we've seen
8:46
the greatest sort of level of openings
8:48
recently and that reflects that change i
8:50
think we believe that you know we're
8:52
relevant to people for their breakfast
8:54
and lunch whether they're working in the
8:55
office or whether they're working from
8:57
home so um we have a great work life
8:59
balance approach within within the
9:00
office of spread as I said we operate um
9:03
hybrid working um I have a young family
9:06
so you know that's something I manage
9:08
myself as well so yeah I think it's um
9:10
reflective of the world that we live in
9:11
today so more suburban openings then do
9:13
you see that in the next few years or so
9:15
so I think we'll continue to to grow
9:17
everywhere actually so there's still
9:19
plenty of opportunity believe it or not
9:20
despite the you can see three um you
9:23
know to continue opening in London we've
9:25
got loads of different formats now that
9:26
we operate anything sort of tiny little
9:29
kiosk to you know big shops with seating
9:31
areas so even in London I think there's
9:32
opportunity to continue to grow and
9:34
we've got some really interesting sites
9:35
that will come forward in the next year
9:37
but yes more growth than we would have
9:39
done historically in the suburban areas
9:41
um and those shops are performing really
9:42
well for us m we've talked uh about the
9:45
challenges facing prep but is there a
9:47
particular issue that keeps you awake at
9:49
night
9:51
um I can't say that there is actually
9:54
i'm I'm annoyingly a really great
9:57
sleeper so I think no I I couldn't think
10:00
of anything that's been giving me a
10:01
sleepless night yeah nice and relaxed
10:03
and chilled as well as far as possible
10:06
that's no bad thing um let's talk about
10:09
leadership yeah how do you describe your
10:11
leadership style so um I I love uh
10:15
working with people i'm a real people
10:16
person um and I love to build sort of
10:18
great strong relationships uh with my
10:21
team i think um you know it's always
10:23
important to me to set clear direction i
10:25
think that's super important in a
10:26
leadership role but once you've aligned
10:28
on that clear direction I tend to try
10:30
and give my team the sort of space that
10:31
they need um everybody that works for me
10:34
is an expert in their own right uh
10:35
they're better qualified than I am for
10:37
the function that that they lead so you
10:39
know my role is is to be there to you
10:41
know set the initial direction and then
10:42
sort of give them the the right level of
10:44
coaching of support that they need um
10:46
but actually I love to see people in in
10:48
the team flourish and to create the
10:49
environment for for them to do so does
10:51
leadership come naturally to you or is
10:53
it something that you've had to work on
10:55
so I would say it probably came more
10:58
naturally to me than sort of I imagined
11:00
as I went through um my career i you
11:03
sort of progress and you take on more
11:05
first I guess line management roles and
11:06
then slightly more leadership positions
11:08
um and it was just something that I
11:10
always really really enjoyed and really
11:11
enjoyed sort of building and developing
11:13
teams um so of course you always have to
11:16
you know keep learning and we don't
11:17
always get everything right so
11:18
occasionally you know something doesn't
11:20
quite go as you hope and you have a bit
11:21
of a leadership lesson yourself but I
11:23
think generally you know I I've lent
11:25
into it and and found the experience
11:26
really rewarding brilliant well CLA it's
11:28
time for those quick fire questions now
11:33
[Music]
11:35
uh what was your first job so my first
11:38
job was on the tills in my local Marks
11:40
and Spencers in the food section which I
11:41
loved uh who inspires you i think during
11:44
my career I've had the opportunity to
11:46
work for a couple of real what I would
11:48
call kind of real retail gurus or or
11:50
food industry gurus so um first of all
11:52
when I was at Tesco uh it was under um
11:55
Terry Leeh Terry Lehy's CEOship so that
11:58
was you know an incredible um leadership
12:00
to to witness i think he was you know a
12:03
fantastic part of the Tesco journey uh
12:05
but also very early on um I worked for a
12:07
lady called Judith Bachelor who was um
12:10
heading up food teams in in both Mars
12:12
and Spencers and and then Safeway and I
12:14
found her absolute passion for product
12:16
and customer and raising the bar in
12:19
terms of you know product and and offer
12:21
you know super inspirational and I can
12:23
remember being a sort of graduate in my
12:25
early 20s you looking to her thinking
12:26
"Wow this is you know this is the sort
12:28
of role this is the sort of person that
12:30
that I would aspire to be in the
12:31
future." If you had to appoint a
12:33
celebrity to your board who would it be
12:35
and why so actually it would be um
12:39
Timothy Shal Shalamé shalom yeah so um
12:43
he recently gave an interview uh at a
12:46
the premiere of for his film A Complete
12:48
Unknown and they asked him "Where would
12:50
you take Bob Dylan on a date if he could
12:52
do so?" And he answered "Pretto," which
12:55
was amazing so um I guess he knows us
12:57
i'm assuming he's he's maybe had a few
12:59
dates i don't know if he's taken Kylie
13:01
to to Pretto but I imagine he knows it
13:03
and I think to bring somebody in for us
13:05
that you know is is you know is a
13:08
generation below me um has got some
13:10
views on you know what how to engage
13:12
with you know maybe younger customers
13:13
and emerging customers um we're
13:15
certainly seeing that coming through the
13:16
business so I think our fastest growing
13:18
segment of customers at the moment is 18
13:20
to 34 um so I think it'd be good to have
13:22
someone like Timothy who kind of appeals
13:24
to those consumers but but is one of
13:26
them in his own right as well get him on
13:27
the phone ex I'm sure he'd be delighted
13:29
to Yeah uh what's the best thing about
13:31
your job um we've touched on it it's
13:34
being in shops actually I love being in
13:36
shops um when I was younger and I was
13:38
thinking about my career I knew I wanted
13:40
to do something that I could see the
13:41
results of my work you know that you
13:43
could sort of see feel touch um so being
13:46
in shops you know meeting the teams
13:48
seeing the impact of initiatives that we
13:50
launched last year we did some real work
13:52
around kind of service standards so
13:53
being in shops and seeing the team
13:56
engage with that and and drive it
13:57
forward or seeing a new product on the
13:59
shelf i I love it and if you weren't
14:00
doing this what would you be doing so my
14:04
sort of plan B was to be a lawyer which
14:06
I'm not sure if I'd have been terribly
14:08
good at and I probably wouldn't have had
14:10
the patience for all the study for but
14:12
yeah I think I probably would have gone
14:13
down that route okay very different and
14:15
finally if you were prime minister for
14:16
the day what would you do um so I think
14:18
the first thing you have to do would
14:20
you'd have to sort of nail the Hugh
14:22
Grant dance up the stairs so get that
14:23
out the way first and then I think look
14:26
I'm really passionate about the UK food
14:28
industry and I think it's probably you
14:30
know a bit underplayed and I think we
14:32
could give it maybe a bit more support
14:33
and focus so my own um degree was in was
14:37
in food technology fewer people are
14:38
going into you know food studies as as a
14:41
career i think it has give it gives
14:43
people amazing careers um from sort of
14:46
manufacturing all the way through to
14:47
retail so I'd like to get together a
14:49
kind of group of the the brightest and
14:51
best from the industry and think about
14:53
how we can really give it the place that
14:54
it sort of deserves in in the UK we're a
14:57
few months in now almost a year of uh
15:00
having the Labor government um what are
15:02
your views on on the government's growth
15:04
agenda do you think that we're on the
15:06
right path um or do you think there
15:08
something else that they should be doing
15:09
i think uh having a growth agenda is is
15:11
the right thing i think growth of course
15:13
is is good um difficult for me to say
15:16
you know that I I would perhaps have
15:19
agreed with every single decision that's
15:21
been taken um but that's theirs their
15:23
decision not ours i think it's for us to
15:25
sort of work out how we run our own
15:27
business and within the sort of
15:29
environment that's been created and make
15:31
sure that you know we're also driving
15:32
growth because that I think you know
15:33
growth is good growth gives
15:35
opportunities and and benefits to
15:36
everyone so focused on we've had a
15:38
growth agenda in in prep for a few years
15:40
postco that's been very much on our mind
15:42
so that feels you know aligned to what
15:44
we hope for for for the country so on
15:45
that basis yeah I think it's it's good
15:47
to have one is there something that you
15:50
want the government to be doing that
15:52
would help Pratt that they're not
15:54
currently doing i think important to
15:56
sort of keep putting the needs of of
15:58
British business at at the heart of
16:00
their decisions i think you know it's
16:02
been um some of the impacts that we've
16:04
already covered have have been
16:05
challenging so I would hope that you
16:07
know that balances out a little bit
16:09
going forward um but look I remain
16:12
focused on you know what do I need to be
16:14
doing and you know things will come up
16:16
on a as we've discovered with some of
16:18
the the um you know tariff conversations
16:20
in the last couple of days and we have
16:22
to navigate our way through them
16:23
whatever those those challenges are yeah
16:25
looking at the UK high street as a whole
16:27
obviously prep is such a cornerstone of
16:30
any high street basically in any town
16:32
and city up and down the UK but what's
16:35
your assessment of the health of the UK
16:37
high streets in 2025 so I I think the UK
16:41
high streets um you know is in is in
16:43
good health it's in great shape we have
16:45
uh from from our sector we have um you
16:48
know competition is good and we have
16:49
some really good competition around us
16:51
we have some emerging competition that I
16:53
think is showing lots of
16:54
entrepreneurship and and lots of new
16:56
companies coming uh onto the high street
16:58
but we also have some maybe more
17:00
traditional competitors many of whom are
17:02
sort of really performing well and and
17:04
you know upping their game and and and
17:05
that's great so um you know I think
17:08
that's a really good thing it's healthy
17:10
competition i think it's good for
17:11
consumers i think that will then help to
17:13
to drive um the growth agenda as well
17:15
how do you make a company like Pratt
17:17
stand out because you as you say you've
17:19
got startups you've got new companies
17:20
you got new competition coming into the
17:22
market all the time and it's a new brand
17:23
new shiny thing that people will be
17:25
attracted to but how do you make them
17:27
come back to prep and keep your market
17:31
leading position yeah so I think it's
17:33
about a differentiated experience you
17:35
know in amongst all of the sort of
17:36
competition and the noise i think it's
17:38
about creating something that is um
17:40
valuable and memorable to the customers
17:42
so that's uh a combination in in my mind
17:44
of you know the shops that we build the
17:46
environments that that we create but
17:48
more importantly um the products that we
17:50
offer and the service of the team
17:51
members that that serve our customers
17:54
when I meet um loyal uh or regular prep
17:57
customers most of them will tell me um
17:59
either about their favorite prep product
18:01
or their regular prep order um or
18:03
they'll tell me about their favorite
18:04
team member and I think that's amazing
18:05
because I think for you know there's not
18:07
a lot of retail businesses that I think
18:09
would have that level of connectivity
18:10
with a customer where they would say
18:12
"Look I really love you know this
18:13
individual at this shop they serve me
18:15
every day they're fantastic." or you
18:17
know I come to you because of this
18:18
product or so I think that you know to
18:21
keep maintaining that level of sort of
18:22
differentiation and experience for the
18:24
customer is is really important and
18:25
obviously the vast majority of people
18:27
coming into to press is a customer that
18:29
you'd actually expect but violence in
18:32
shops towards shop workers has been a
18:35
hot topic over the last few years or so
18:37
um I know that you introduced body worn
18:39
cameras last year talk to me about why
18:43
that decision was made and the impact
18:45
that that's had so But we introduced
18:46
that in a um a small number of our shops
18:49
who unfortunately had had a sort of a
18:50
higher number of incidents of um you
18:53
know um unpleasant behavior towards our
18:55
customers and really it's just part of
18:57
us putting our teams at the heart of
18:59
everything we do and making sure that we
19:00
can you know give them the support that
19:02
they need um our team members who have
19:04
been you know part of that roll out have
19:06
said that it makes them feel you know
19:08
more confident to to have the equipment
19:10
should they need it hopefully they don't
19:12
need to use it um but making sure that
19:15
they have those tools where we need it
19:16
at some of our sites you know in in
19:18
locations like stations we operate on an
19:20
almost 24-hour basis so therefore it's
19:22
about making sure that our team sort of
19:24
feel supported and and protected um
19:27
wherever there may be any risk it's a
19:28
real shame that that's it's come to that
19:30
though isn't it it it is i think you
19:32
know I'm not saying you know it's it's
19:35
been a huge issue in terms of incidents
19:37
i think we just know it exists and we
19:39
know that there have been some shops
19:40
that where it could be you know maybe
19:42
more more likely than than in others so
19:44
it hasn't been rolled off across all of
19:46
the estate it's just been put into the
19:47
the locations that you know may may have
19:50
a risk of of that type of incident and
19:52
has had a positive impact as have those
19:54
incidents gone down so I think more than
19:56
anything the team member feedback has
19:58
has been positive so it was it was as as
20:01
much preventative as as as anything else
20:03
in terms of just making sure the team
20:05
members knew that we we knew this was an
20:07
issue in retail and in you know society
20:10
and therefore we were able to provide
20:11
them with the sort of tools that that
20:13
they might need it's it's one of those
20:14
things isn't it it's you know co-op in
20:17
particular they talk about violence in
20:19
shops and you get CTV that's that's
20:22
released to the press and you get
20:23
campaigns and things like it's sort of
20:25
this perennial topic especially maybe
20:27
since co with cost of living crisis is
20:30
going up and and and people are
20:33
just increasingly desperate I think and
20:35
going into those shops and I those
20:37
workers are in a vulnerable position you
20:40
know if you come into an office by like
20:41
this one we're sitting around now you
20:42
got to get through layers of security in
20:44
order to get to where we are but with
20:46
your shops anybody can just walk in how
20:49
does a company like Pratt how does your
20:50
company make the shop workers feel
20:54
comfortable because it could happen
20:55
anywhere even shops that have had no
20:58
issues at all sure look we we're um you
21:02
know in really good contact with all of
21:03
our our shops and our ops managers and
21:05
so we've there's there is an immediate
21:08
support network and we would we have you
21:10
know the ability for our team members or
21:11
our managers to reach out for support
21:13
and and we will be there as soon as we
21:14
can to provide support you can't um you
21:17
know we won't be able to make ourselves
21:19
unique as you talk about it's a it's a
21:20
wider issue very thankfully we don't
21:23
seem to be you know one of the I guess
21:26
the the biggest victims of it i don't
21:28
know if that's reflective of you know
21:30
the products or or or you know that we
21:32
sell or we offer but where we um you
21:34
know where where our teams need us we'll
21:36
always be there for for them on on on
21:38
any uh aspect including you know
21:40
difficult customers or or or any
21:42
aggression we've talked a lot about
21:43
challenges is difficult economic
21:45
environment for pretty much every
21:47
business in the UK right now but is
21:49
there one in particular that you think
21:50
is going to be um of a particular
21:53
challenge to prep over the next few
21:55
years or so what's the top of your inbox
21:59
i think um you know you would as you
22:03
would expect me to say wage and and
22:04
ingredient inflation is very real for us
22:06
so I think that you know as we've
22:08
discussed earlier um we have to deal
22:10
with that head on and we have to work
22:11
out what how we manage that ourselves
22:13
and and what it means for us so that we
22:15
can again continue to uh create the best
22:18
offer for customers and you know we need
22:20
to find a way to address that ongoing so
22:22
I think you know that is a very very
22:24
real industry industry issue for us in
22:27
food retail at the moment and and you
22:28
know that will probably continue to be
22:30
so it's difficult isn't it because the
22:32
rise in the minimum wage obviously
22:34
affects every every company in the
22:36
country almost
22:38
but the other side of that is is people
22:41
you know businesses don't like an
22:42
increase in cost but everybody wants to
22:45
pay their employees as much as possible
22:47
you got to find that balancing act and
22:48
is that quite difficult talking to our
22:50
employees and say well actually you know
22:52
it's quite difficult for us to find that
22:53
margin and that balancing act i I think
22:56
we've always pr prided ourselves on
22:58
paying our team members well and you
22:59
know we have um our mystery shopper
23:01
bonus which we have to offer all of our
23:03
shops so every shop every week receives
23:05
a visit from a mystery shopper and they
23:07
get a get a score um and if the um shop
23:11
passes their mystery shopper every week
23:13
every team member gets a 1 125 bonus for
23:15
every hour that they've worked so that's
23:16
you know on top of um you know the
23:18
current national limit wage that's an
23:20
10% increase so that's so our staff know
23:22
that you know we always want to make
23:24
sure that we're sort of paying and and
23:25
and leading on that basis um and that's
23:28
something that we've always stuck to and
23:29
it will always be part of our DNA we
23:31
said um before you know we win or lose
23:33
in our shops with our customers and it
23:35
is our our teams in our shops who have
23:37
that frontline relationship with our
23:39
team with our customers and therefore
23:41
keeping them really engaged and uh
23:43
motivated is is kind of utmost most
23:46
important it's priority number one
23:47
really are you optimistic about the UK
23:50
economy do you think that the businesses
23:52
are going to be hit by further tax hikes
23:55
um I am optimist i I'm a self-declared
23:57
slightly natural optimist so um maybe
24:00
take that into account but yeah I'm
24:02
optimistic about um you know the UK
24:04
business in the UK and especially prep i
24:06
think you know we've we've as we've
24:08
touched on it was a difficult few years
24:09
post pandemic we had a lot of resetting
24:11
to do and we had a lot of kind of um you
24:13
slowed down growth when we were in that
24:15
period um but things are you know for us
24:17
are looking great we're starting to grow
24:19
at pace again um and it's great to be
24:21
opening new shops developing new
24:23
products and categories for customers um
24:25
so yeah I'm I'm I'm optimistic come the
24:28
autumn Ra Reeves budgets um have you
24:32
forecast have you paid have you sort of
24:34
thought well she might increase taxes
24:36
again is that part of your your forward
24:38
thinking plans no my plans are entirely
24:40
focused on what we can do as prep and
24:42
how we can kind of drive our our own
24:44
business forward so that's that's the
24:45
position I've taken on that one yeah
24:48
well
24:49
dodged um talk to me about your career
24:52
then um do you had a lot of success you
24:56
you've got to have done so to have got
24:58
to the position that you're in right now
25:00
uh is there one particular success story
25:03
that sticks out to you that you're
25:04
particularly proud of so PRE would be my
25:07
success story you know I I joined Pratt
25:09
as we said 15 years ago um it's given me
25:12
an incredible career in a sector that I
25:14
love um and you know to have been part
25:17
of the the growth of the brand over that
25:18
time has has been you know a huge
25:20
privilege to become um the UK managing
25:23
director in 2019 was probably the
25:26
proudest day of my career um you know to
25:29
have the opportunity to lead the
25:30
business that you feel so passionately
25:32
about in you know the biggest market in
25:34
the homeland um you know is is an
25:36
amazing thing and I'm you know
25:37
incredibly proud of that as I said when
25:38
I started out I knew I had a passion for
25:40
food and retail but I didn't know where
25:42
that would take me um so yeah it's been
25:44
it's it's been a fantastically rewarding
25:46
career so far so far uh the other side
25:50
of that coin of course
25:51
is aspects of your career that maybe you
25:54
look back on and maybe that you regret
25:56
or you think that you could have done
25:58
better at if you had another chance is
26:00
there something that sticks out there
26:02
that that you particularly learned from
26:04
i wouldn't say there's anything that I
26:06
sort of regret or or wish I'd do
26:08
different i think where I learned the
26:10
most was during the pandemic i think
26:12
that was obviously a huge change moment
26:15
and it it you know affected our business
26:17
significantly and I think you know you
26:19
have to you learn a lot in in a crisis
26:22
moment and that was you know I think for
26:24
for many businesses it was a it was a
26:26
crisis moment and I think that's where
26:28
you find some of the the deepest
26:30
learning so do I wish that I hadn't had
26:32
that come up within six months of being
26:34
promoted to managing director i do but
26:37
it you know it happened and we got
26:38
through it and we learned a lot and we
26:40
were able to sort of get the business
26:41
back on really strong footing and and
26:43
now kind of go again because you can't
26:45
make the right decision every single
26:46
time can you it's un you'd be quite
26:49
unusual if you were able to is that
26:51
difficult to deal with sometimes that
26:53
you know you're making a decision it's a
26:55
you know using all the information that
26:57
you've got but it could well be the
26:59
wrong one and it has consequences
27:01
potentially for people's for people's
27:03
jobs is that is that a difficult burden
27:05
to sometimes shoulder i think that's
27:08
part of the burden of leadership is that
27:10
you you have to sometimes make the
27:12
decisions and there doesn't always seem
27:13
to be you know the obvious or easy
27:15
answer that you have but I try and take
27:18
all of those decisions really with the
27:20
interests of people and the people in
27:22
our business you know as priority number
27:23
one as we said um I you know take all
27:28
the information that you have you've
27:29
only got the information that you have
27:30
to hand and you make the decision best
27:32
decision that you can in that moment i
27:34
think the key is then being able to you
27:36
know continue to adapt and and react if
27:38
if things don't go quite as you may have
27:40
hoped yeah we can't we've got to end the
27:44
uh interview with talking about the
27:47
famous coffee subscription um policy
27:50
that you guys have got every time the
27:52
policy changes and the price changes
27:54
it's front page news almost and it's a
27:56
bell weather for the economy um talk to
27:59
me about the policy talk to me about the
28:00
subscription is it still um alive and
28:02
well and and doing well for prep yes it
28:05
is uh club prep is still alive and well
28:07
so uh first launched in uh September
28:10
2020 very much uh part of our kind of
28:13
pandemic um recovery this the start of
28:15
it i think that was a moment where we
28:17
needed to uh work out how we could get
28:20
more people into into our shops more
28:22
often and it was a great vehicle to do
28:23
that um it's been a you know very
28:26
successful part of the business it has
28:28
gone through uh a few different versions
28:30
again as we worked out what kind of made
28:31
it most appealing to customers and and
28:33
give gave most value to customers really
28:35
uh and so the the change to the
28:37
subscription that we made uh in the
28:39
autumn of last year was settling on that
28:41
to make sure that we we felt we
28:43
delivered and we know we deliver the
28:44
best value coffee proposition for
28:46
customers on the high street um and and
28:49
you know really delighted that the vast
28:51
majority of our subscribers you know
28:53
stayed with us on the program and and
28:55
are still enjoying Great Value coffee
28:56
across all of our shops any changes to
28:58
the policy price-wise no the policy is
29:02
£5 a month so uh that's great value £5 a
29:05
month 50% off all your Bris and prepared
29:07
drinks so that's that's uh that's locked
29:10
in that's locked in guarantee you got
29:12
we're going to lock you in there are
29:13
very there are very few guarantees in
29:15
life i can say I can say I have no plans
29:18
to to make any changes to to that offer
29:20
as it stands brilliant cla thank you so
29:22
much for coming thanks very much
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