What Grocerants Can Learn from Pret-a-Manger

Pret’s marketing promises ‘100% organic’ products and daily donations of leftovers and has a loyal customer base, including yours truly.  

Pret-a-Manger started as a local patisserie in 1986 and has since become a global player, with 450 shops worldwide in the UK, USA, Paris, Hong Kong, and Shanghai.

Pret has achieved popularity due to their promise of freshness, sustainably sourced ingredients, and transparency. And, it should serve as a model for supermarkets’ grocerant efforts.

According to Culinary Visions Fresh Perspectives study, 58% of consumers between the ages of 18 and 34 agree that delivered food is rarely fresh. Respondents also listed locally sourced ingredients to be one of the top indicators of freshness, with 84% agreeing that locally sourced food is the freshest.

Its time to think of your grocerant as fresh food for ‘the working professional’.

59% of survey respondents listed sustainability as an important factor of consideration in their food purchases, according to Food Insight’s 2018 Food and Health Survey. Of these respondents, 7 in 10 consumers also attested that they’d give up one of their favorite food products for one that did not contain artificial ingredients.

If supermarkets want to think about long term success for their grocerants thaey have to align with consumer desires, wants and needs.