Pret A Manger heads south

There can’t be too many residents of Johannesburg who feel that there aren’t enough coffee and sandwich shops.

However, if you do belong to this deprived minority, there is great news. The British coffee and sandwich chain Pret A Manger (or just Pret to its friends) is about to hit our shores, with initial openings in Melrose Arch and Rosebank.

No news yet of a Pret in Pret-oria. Maybe they don’t like alliteration?

Since 1986, when the first Pret store was developed in the UK, the aim has been to serve organic coffee and freshly prepared food, and the formula is expected to be much the same when the first Prets open their doors in the City of Gold. The brand can already be found in more than a dozen countries, but this is believed to be Pret’s first foray into Africa.

French purists will know that pret a manger is more accurately written as prêt-à-manger, with the phrase meaning: ready to eat. I won’t attempt translations into many of the other SA official languages, though pret in Afrikaans means fun, which is not a bad name for a food and coffee outlet.

In an interview with News24, a Pret executive said the chain would “curate” a few SA delicacies for its SA stores, including “a chakalaka hot chicken wrap and a melktert-flavoured dessert pot”. It remains to be seen how alluring these carefully curated culinary creations will be.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating, so armed with a pile of £10 notes and fully prêt-à-manger, I visited a London branch of Pret A Manger to see what was on offer, to get an idea of the goodies that will be available to SA customers.

I chose the outlet at the Victoria Coach Station in central London, as it has ample seating and a good range of food and drink. The store is clean and attractive, all the offerings are well-labelled, and the prices are not too outrageous for London, though they may make South Africans’ eyes water a little.

No doubt, the prices will need to be much lower prices if the new local Pret outlets want to compete with their many rival Rosebank and Melrose Arch sandwich and coffee stores. 

To start with, I opted for two toasted sandwiches. They were in display cabinets with the other sandwiches, but my selections were warmed up for me when I went to pay.

The ham, cheese and mustard toastie (£6.25) was tasty but almost identical to the toasted sandwiches I make far more cheaply in my air fryer at home. It was also puzzling that the top (or bottom) slice of bread was well toasted, while the bottom (or top) one wasn’t. The tuna melt toastie (£6.25) was surprisingly bland. Nothing wrong with it, apart from a notable absence of taste.

I also tried two normal, untoasted sandwiches — the tuna and cucumber on malted bread (£3.70) and the chicken Caesar bacon baguette (£6.99). The tuna sandwich tasted fine, but I was surprised by the bread.  Pret prides itself on using fresh ingredients and in preparing its food fresh each day. The filling was moist and generous, but the bread did not scream freshness to me. It didn’t even whisper it.

The baguette was the most expensive of the four sandwiches I tried. It was also the nicest. But far from special. None of these sandwiches outshone the ones you can find in Woolies, though the choice was more varied and alluring.

I would urge those in charge of prepping the new SA Pret’s sandwiches to ensure not only the freshness of all the ingredients but also that they impress. A new entrant needs to make its mark.

For those who seek something healthier than a sandwich, there are also bakes, soups and salads in the Pret range. All are attractively presented, and the food is targeted not just at the dine-in eater, but also at those who want to grab something to munch when they are back at home or in the office.

Having recently visited Portugal, my fondness has exploded for that country’s custard tarts — the pastéis de nata (easier to type than to pronounce), and I tried Pret’s version (£3.40) after I spotted them on display.

Magnificent! Flaky pastry and a gorgeous custard. The filling was slightly sweeter than I would have wished, but it was a perfect complement to my cappuccino. (As well as being prêt-à-manger, I was also prêt-à-café.)

I hadn’t visited a Pret store for a long while because on my last visit to one I was served an unpleasant, poorly brewed coffee. It put me off, and this was my first time back in a Pret store for some months. This time, though, I was pleasantly surprised. They got the coffee right.

My cappuccino (£4.05) was spot on, nicely balanced and very enjoyable. I also tried a latte (£4.05) and was similarly impressed.

While Pret’s boastful use of organic coffee beans is a welcome bonus, there is no point in doing so if you then use the beans to make unpleasant coffee. There were no such concerns during my most recent visit to Pret.

I hope the baristas in the new SA Pret stores are well trained so that they can excel in the most basic requirement of any coffee shop — the brewing of great coffee. Consistency is as important as quality. I am usually impressed with my Seattle coffees but have had a love-hate relationship with Starbucks because of the occasional rogue coffees I have been served there.

Pret A Manger in the UK helps retain its customers with a rewards scheme, and also with its Club Pret promotion, which offers up to five half-priced barista-made hot or cold drinks a day to subscribers — at £5 a month. It will be interesting to see what is planned for loyal patrons of the SA outlets, as the rival coffee shop chains already have their own reward schemes.

I am sure that while Pret SA’s prices will be well below those of London, it is still likely to be charging enough to ensure that its customers will expect consistently top-quality food and coffee. Let’s hope they can deliver, because pret-ension alone won’t bring the crowds flocking through the door.