Integrated Case Study Analysis: Pret A Manger's Expansion Problems

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the Pret A Manger case study, focusing on the challenges the company faced during its expansion, particularly with the introduction of twin shops. The case study explores the company's initial success, its expansion into international markets, and the subsequent problems arising from the need to open smaller twin shops without in-house kitchens. The analysis includes an examination of the company's competitive advantages, SWOT and PEST analyses, and the issues related to maintaining food quality and freshness. The report identifies key problems, such as meeting expansion targets, maintaining customer expectations, and the impact of the twin shop model on operations. It concludes with proposed solutions, including branding exercises and action plans to address the identified challenges and improve business strategies. This analysis is designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the business issues faced by Pret A Manger and offer insights into potential solutions for sustainable growth.

RUNNING HEAD: CASE STUDY 1
Case study: Pret A Manger

CASE STUDY 2
Executive Summary
This report is based on the ‘Pert A Manger’ case study. Pert A Manger is a London based
company which deals in sandwiches and drinks. The idea of opening a sandwich shop is
generated in the mind of two college friends Siclair Beecham and Julian Metcalfe when they
did not find a quality and fresh sandwich anywhere in London. The competitive advantage of
company is they serve fresh and environmental friendly food that is prepared at the in-shop
kitchen available at every shop. The company is doing well in the British market but when
the Bridgepoint purchase the shares of Pert A Manger in 2008 they put a challenge in front of
company to expand their business by 15% every week. To fulfil challenge the company has
decided to open a twin shops. By opening twin shops the company has face various problems
such as the size of the twin shops are small so they cannot install in-shop kitchen in twin
shops that is why the ideal customers suspect them that they are not serving quality and fresh
food. The main objective of this report is to identifying the problems given in the case study,
analyse the current position of the business and on the bases of analyses to know what is been
find out and on the bases of finding provide an appropriate solution.

CASE STUDY 3
Contents
Chapter 1....................................................................................................................................4
Introduction............................................................................................................................4
Statement of problem..........................................................................................................4
Structure of Report..............................................................................................................4
Aims and Objective............................................................................................................5
Chapter 2....................................................................................................................................5
Description of case.................................................................................................................5
Chapter 3....................................................................................................................................7
Problem Statement plan of Analysis......................................................................................7
Main problems....................................................................................................................7
Problems identified.............................................................................................................8
Literature review.................................................................................................................9
Proposed plan of Analysis Source of Data.......................................................................10
Chapter 4..................................................................................................................................11
Analysis and Finding............................................................................................................11
Current position of Pret A Manger...................................................................................11
SWOT...............................................................................................................................11
PEST.................................................................................................................................13
Findings................................................................................................................................14
Chapter 5..................................................................................................................................16
Proposed solution to problem...............................................................................................16
Branding Exercise.............................................................................................................16
Phisical Evidence..............................................................................................................17
Action Plan.......................................................................................................................17
Conclusion........................................................................................................................18
References................................................................................................................................19

CASE STUDY 4
Chapter 1
Introduction
Statement of problem
In 1986 the company named Pert A Manger was established by the two friends who are the
founder of the company. The first shop of Pert A Manger was established in London. The
shop has done well in London. The company in starting deals in the sandwiches and drinks.
The idea of opening a sandwich shop is came to the mind of the founder when they did not
find a good quality and fresh sandwich any were in London. In 2001 the company has opened
100 shops in United Kingdom by seen the success of the business the big brand of food
industry McDonalds purchase the one third shares of the company and offer them that they
will purchase the rest two third share if they will expand the business. To fulfil the condition
of McDonalds the company has expand their business in U.S and Hong Kong. However, in
foreign market they did not get success because the preferences of people are different. To
change the conditions of the company in international market Clive Schlee and Julian
Metcalfe join the company. In 2008, McDonalds sold the shares of the company and the
Bridgepoint and European company purchase the shares of Pert A Manger. Bridgepoint give
Pert A Manger a challenge to open up more shops and expand the business by 15% every
year. To fulfil the condition of the Bridgepoint the company has made a decision to open twin
shops. The twin shops are small in size and do not have the capacity of installing kitchen in
them and this arise as a big issue or problem for the company.
Structure of Report
The give case study is all about the problem face by the Pert A Manger by opening a twin
shops. There are many people and newspaper who has questioned the quality and freshness of

CASE STUDY 5
the food which is been served at the twin shop. This report is designed to understand the
background of the case study, the problems which were raised in front of Pert A Manger. In
this report the problem is been analyses with the help of literature review, the current position
of Pert A Manger is been evaluated with help of SWOT analysis and PEST Analysis. For
Analysis few finding are arrived and on the bases of findings various solution for the
problems is been discussed.
Aims and Objective
The aim and objective of this case study is to identify the problems that Pret A Manger has
faced when the Bridgepoint has purchase the share of company and give them a challenge
that Pret A Manger has expanding business by 15% every year. The company has decided to
open a twin shops but by establishing a twin shop various problems were arise. The objective
of this report is to identify a proper and relevant solution for the problems.
Chapter 2
Description of case
Two college friends Sinclair Beecham and Julian Metcalfe established a sandwich chain in
London. The idea of establishing the sandwich chain was developed in the mind of Sinclair
Beecham and Julian Metcalfe when they do not found a proper sandwich anywhere in
London. In 1986, after taking loan of amount £17000 from bank, they opened a first
sandwich shop with name Pret A Manger. The Pret A Manger opened with the assurance to
their customers that they will provide simple, delicious food that is served by friendly and
motivated staff. In 1998, the Pret A Manger expand its business by establishing 100 shops
and in 2001 by noticing the growth of Pret A Manger McDonalds purchase the one third
portion, that valued £150 million. McDonald provides an option to Pret A Manger that, they
will purchase the remaining two-third share of company if Pret A Manger will grow and

CASE STUDY 6
expand their business. The offer that is been given by McDonald boost the management of
Pret A Manger to expand their business internationally and domestically. The Pret A Manger
starts expanding their Shops in London as well internationally in New York and Hong Kong.
Pret A Manger opened 16 shops in New York but they did not get success there, the main
reason of their failure is they fail to adopt the U.S customer preferences.
In 2003, Clive Schlee has joined Pret A Manger as a CEO and Julian Metcalfe has returned to
the business as a Creative Director. They both join the business with the assurance of
restraining global expansion and launching back-to-back turnaround. Out of 16, they closed 6
shops in Manhattan and permanently shut down the joint venture in Japan. They provide their
main focuses on the company’s core value of natural food and fast and friendly service. In
2008, McDonald sold its share of Pret A Manger and Bridgepoint a European private equity
brought a majority share of Pret A Manger valued £245 million.
The Pret a Manager is well known in whole England For their best quality food that is been
serve with attentive services. By 2011, the in total Pret A Manger is having 282 shops in
Britain, Hong Kong and U.S. The company is under pressured to expand its business by 15%
every year. For continue expansion company needs a good and perfect location. For reducing,
these two pressures the company has planned to open twin shops. The sizes of twin shops are
small so they did not have their own kitchen (O’Halloran, 2013). The sandwich were
prepared in a close parent shop and transported throughout the day on a trolley. There are few
benefits attached with the twin shop, it allows Pret A Manger to open in great sites that are
not large sufficient for kitchen, and it will also provide an opportunity to grow the leadership
pipeline.
With the few benefits twin shops are associated with problems also, in the era of market
saturation, it is very difficult for the Pret a Manger to find a suitable location that can satisfy

CASE STUDY 7
the need of company for prime street visibility and necessary kitchen space. The other
problem that the company is facing is Bridegpoint the company that has purchase the share of
Pret a Manager has given them a challenge that they have to expand their business by
increasing number of shops by 15 every year. To accomplish the challenges the company has
planned to open a Twin shops but there will be no kitchen area available at these shops and
that will clearly go against the promise made by the company to its customers that food will
fresh and be prepare in the kitchen at the same time.
Chapter 3
Problem Statement plan of Analysis
Main problems
After going through the case study it is been evaluated, the company is facing few problems
while opening the Twin shops in London. In previous the company is open with the motive
to provide fresh food by using artificial flavours, colour, and presentation. the company
believes that the taste of food is good because they have kitchen in every shop and other
shops who sell sandwiches do not have kitchens and the food was delivered to them via
trucks which are consider to be not fresh (Almquist, and Roberts, 2010). The In-shop kitchen
allows the firms to maximize freshness and minimize stick outs. The management of
company believes that speed, genuineness of services and quality are the factors that are
providing competitive advantage to the company.
Competitive advantage the Pret’s A Manager has is their expertise in real estate. To open a
shop the company allows select the best sites in London. Mainly they target corner locations,
even though the rent is 20% more from them. The company has open up the shops only few

CASE STUDY 8
blocks from each other. They feel that the employees or workers were unwilling to walk more
than two blocks for lunch (Gyrd-Jones and Kornum, 2013).
When the Bridgepoint brought the shares of the Pret’s A Manager, they give them a challenge
or target that they will expand their branches of sandwich shops by 15% every month. To
fulfil the challenge the management of company has decided to open a twin shops. The size
of twin shops are small that is the reason the kitchen set up will not fit in there.
On May 2009, the largest selling one newspaper of United Kingdom ‘The Sun’ write an
article stating Pret’s A Manager were misleading their customers. They claimed that the
promise that company made that food are prepared in their kitchen is not been fulfilled in the
twin shop. The area of twin shops are small the company cannot set up the kitchens (Bowie,
Brookes and Mariussen, 2016). The food which is been serve in the twin shop is prepared at
the parent shop and then delivered to the twin shops through trolley.
The twin shops are facing problems of the keeping a full selection of sandwiches because the
kitchen is situated in another shop. The Head of City operation of the company noted that
twin shops cut down the availability. The former manager at Pret’s A Manager has stated that
it is easier to run shops with the kitchen because of the just in time nature of production. It is
hard for twin shop to operate without kitchen and for product they have to depend on other
shops to deliver food.
Problems identified
During analysing the case the issues or problems, which arise are:
 While purchasing the share of Pret’s A Managers, Bridgepoint a European private
equity company, set a challenge or has given a target to them to expand the number of
shops. The target that they have set for the company is they have to expand their
business bout 15% every year.

CASE STUDY 9
 To fulfil the challenge the company has decided open the twin shops. They need to
open a more and more twin shops but the size of twin shops is small, hence there will
be no kitchen. The company while setting up promises their customers that they will
provide them a fresh food that is prepared in In-shop kitchen. This can be arises as a
big disadvantage for twin shops concept.
 In the era of marketing saturation finding a suitable location for opening the shop,
become a big problem. As the location is the basic requirement of the any company
(Pennington, 2013).
Literature review
According to Cummins, Flint, and Matthews, (2014) expansion is the key of success of every
business if the company is doing well in their respective field they should thing about
expanding the business. With expanding the business, the companies can increase their
revenues and can build their brand value in the market. The building a good brand image in
the market is the priority of the companies in the present era. There are various mode of
expansion is available in the market to expand the business the company can choose the best
option which is most suitable for them. Garcia-Segovia, Harrington and Seo, (2015) stated in
their article that if the company who are related to or who are producing items related to the
edibles like sandwich, burger, pop-corns any many more and their business are doing good in
the particular area they should expand their business to another area by opening a chain in
that selected area. They also give emphases on expanding the business in domestic country
first. The Authors say that if the Food chain want to grow it is important for them to operate
with in domestic country first. If the company will successfully expand the business in the
domestic market it will be help them in building a good brand image in the market and sue to
the good in house image they can expand the business internationally. Domestic market
creates a strong base for the expansion internationally. Samapundo, et.al. (2015) stated in

CASE STUDY 10
their article that for better option of expansion it is important for the company to expand their
business abroad. If the product did not get success in the domestic market they may get
chance to expand their business in other countries by adopting various options like joint
venture, partnership, franchising. If the business is successful in the domestic market, it will
be easy for that business to expand internationally.
According to Reisch, Eberle and Lorek, (2013) location plays a vital role in success of every
business especially in case of food and drinks related business. Location is the factor that
provides a competitive advantage to the company. Zaitseva, (2013) with the help of the
specific location the businessperson can ensure their success by targeting their target market.
The locations will that is desired by the person to open up the food chain or restaurant need to
be those place that is easily accessible and has a good visibility. According to Tolmay,
(2017) the location of business should have a parking space, in present condition the
availability of parking space become a very necessary or a perk.
Proposed plan of Analysis Source of Data
To identify the issues in the Pert’s A Manger first step which is been taken is read the case
study at least two time. By going through the case study two times it will help in identify the
minor issues that can be miss at the time of first reading. By reading the case study, the writer
will analyse and evaluate the problems that the company is facing. Here in this case study the
company is facing majorly three problems (Melo and Galan, 2011). First is they are not
getting right location to set up their twin shops, second the size of twin shop is small that’s
why they cannot install kitchen at the shop and third problem is of expanding business on
continues bases. Regarding these problem writer has found out the related articles and journal
in which they find out the various mode of expansion the reason behind expansion, benefits
of domestic and international expansion and the advantages related to the location (Pomering,
Noble and Johnson, 2011).

CASE STUDY 11
Chapter 4
Analysis and Finding
Current position of Pret A Manger
Pret A Manger is a British most famous and environmental friendly company, who are
specialised in supplying fresh drinks and sandwiches to people of London, U.S and Hong
Kong. The food is not which the company supplies do not contain any chemicals and are
made in the in-shop kitchens at very branch of Pret A Manger. To analyse the aspects of the
case study and for the company it is important to consider external and internal factors that
are infusing working of company positively as well as negatively. To analyse the case study
here in this writing SWOT analysis and PEST analysis is been conducted.
SWOT
SWOT analysis is the strategic planning that is used to analyse the threats, opportunities,
weaknesses and strength of the selected business. Strengths of Pret A Manger state that the
company provide fresh and tasty sandwiches that are chemical free and environment friendly.
These approaches provide edge to the company over their competitor, because now day the
people are more health conscious and care more about their health (Backhaus and Tikoo,
2014). Pret A Manger has created a strong brand image and brand name in United Kingdom
that will provide a support to the company when company will go international to set up their
more branches in the international market. Pret A Manger has given their full emphasis to the
staff servicing and the quality of food, the food need to good, tasty and health and the staff
should serve the food quick and with effective impression on customers (Davies and Miles,
2010). This strategy will help the company in keeping the quality and standards of their
products and will make their customers to be loyal. While choosing the location for the shop
the company have chosen a place, which is at the corner of the street, especially where there

CASE STUDY 12
the population is dense, and consist of office workers and affluent people. Pret do not
provide franchise they handle all there shop under their supervision to maintain the quality of
the food and services (Morrison and Thomas, 2011). With strengths, the Pret A Manger has
some weakness. Few weakness of the company are Pret A Manger do not invest their money
on marketing in other words they do not engage in the direct marketing and mass media
presence. This will provide the bad impact on the sale of the company as pr the survey
conducted, lot of children below the age of 25 do not know much about the brand because of
lack of the marketing and due to lack of knowledge of the brand, they prefer going for eating
to the competitors of Pret A Manger. The Pret A Manger do not design the shop to provide a
facility of family treat as other joints do, they mainly focus on the customers who are office
worker and affluent consumers. Apart from United Kingdom Pret A Manger is facing
problem in global presence.
Opportunities for the companies are, integration and globalisation process give Pret A
Manger an excellent opportunities to penetrate into new markets. Pret A Manger has spread
their business in the three countries, United Kingdom, United States and Hong Kong. They
have few more opportunities like European countries (Zuber, 2011). The Pret A Manger are
specialised in sandwich and drinks there is an opportunity lies with them to introduce new
product in the market that are trending in present conditions. One more opportunity that the
company have is introducing new technology in the business that will help them in increasing
business efficiency and make the work quick. By adopting, the cost cutting method into
business the company can increase their profits the cost cutting can be done in certain areas
like manufacturing and designing the latest coffee making machines. With opportunities,
some threats are also associated with the business of Pert A Manger. The company deals in
sandwich and drinks the market of food chains and restaurant is really wide and competition
in rising at huge rate (Staff, 2011). There are so many competitors are available in the market