Pret’s Pano Christou – “Rags to Riches” Story

UPDATE September 2023:

For more reviews of shop managers, OPs managers and HQ staff (and it’s not good!) on Pret’s leadership between 2020 – September 2023, please see Pano Christou’s Reputation post. And even those are just the tip of the iceberg.

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2021 text from here on out.

Pano Christou has his own story in how he applied for a job at Pret 20 odd years ago and was rejected. Some time later he reapplied and was accepted. He climbed up the “ladder” and was the shadow of Clive Schlee for a few years. As Schlee’s time was coming to an end after two customers died and the new owners JAB took over, Pano as UK Managing Director briefly stepped into a new role of COO that was created as a stepping stone to become the new CEO. The role of COO didn’t exist before that and doesn’t currently exist in Pret.

What Pano Christou is not telling people immediately is that he started in Pret as an Assistant Manager, having come from McDonald’s as a Manager. Managers from other companies always start as Assistant Managers in Pret. Never as a Team Member from the bottom and not as a shop Manager.

What people who have never worked at Pret don’t understand is that the structure in Pret is extremely complex and micromanaging. Pret advertises that 95% of Pret Managers have started at the bottom in Pret. Funny, because a few years ago the numbers were 80-something %. And yet, it should be normal that most, if not all Managers grow from within the company.

Pret’s career path is super complex.

If you REALLY start at the bottom on the shop floor or kitchen, you start at a little over minimum wage, but have to work for it 3 times over and have to wait YEARS to get a pay-rise.

It takes THREE position to even reach the Assistant Manager role that Pano Christou started with.

Team Member (and after 10-ish days Team Member Star – ignore that one, it’s just psychology!)

NEXT Level:

Barista or Hot Chef or Kitchen Team Member Trainer (in my time Pret had the role of Shift Runner between 2008-ish and 2015)

NEXT Level:

Team Leader (either Kitchen Leader or Floor Leader)

NEXT Level:

And THEEENN when you went through those “hurdles” you might have had a chance to become an Assistant Manager (mostly of the Kitchen, sometimes of the Floor).

Mind you, these positions, especially from Assistant Manager (AM) onward are very coveted of course! Staff get their elbows out and screw each other over for this position like in every job. Some even rise up the ranks via the bedroom. This you’ll expect in a law firm, and certainly politics and Hollywood, but a sandwich chain? Really? Alright!

What makes the AM position so attractive is that they delegate to the Team Leaders, who really do the hard work and run the shops, bossing the Team Leaders around and blaming them for everything. The AM is the filling of the sandwich between General Manager (GM) and Team Leader (TL) bossing Team Members around and yet not being responsible. The AM isn’t as responsible as the General Manager (GM) is. Perfect spot to be in. Bossing people around, yet not being responsible. Pret within the company is known for having too many “leaders” who struggle for the top position while Pret top leadership enjoy throwing crumbs to them to fight over.

To better see the text in the below screenshots, please click “ctrl and +” (ctrl and plus) and to decrease again “ctrl and -” (ctrl and minus) or click on the links underneath the screenshots.

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After Assistant Manager comes the General Manager (GM), then Group Manager responsible for about 4 – 5 shops in an area, then Operations (Area) Manager (or OPs) of about 10 -14 shops in an area, and then you just fly so high you forget where you came from! And here’s where it’s ALL about the money.

What is so attractive to the AM role is that this is where the money starts to flow and where people will have to “prove” if they belong to the ELITE of the top Management who reap all the harvest that the “slaves” below them labour for. And yet again, even the AM and GM still have to prove if they belong to the ELITE of the top leadership of Pret. And yet, GMs and AMs increasingly complain on Glassdoor and Indeed that their contracted hours (used to be 42.5 per week) now 35 hours p/w on the payroll, but they work at least 60 hours as unpaid overtime. GMs and AMs are as exploited as TMs are.

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When a staff becomes an AM, at least in my time and Pano Christou’s time, they got £500 from Pret to go shopping for business attire. Then they got £50 a month for the dry cleaning bill of their business attire, insurance, extra holidays, more quarterly bonus, SICK PAY (that’s a big one!), executive parties, a loan from Pret for annual travel which costs 10 months for a 12 month annual ticket … and a host of other benefits. This is pre-Covid of course. But I’m painting a picture of Pano Christou’s “rags to riches” (shop floor) beginnings in Pret.

Pano did not start on minimum wage plus a few pennies and working triple for it with a Team Leader or AM down his neck. He surely wore a Pret uniform for a month plus / minus to “experience” how it is to REALLY start at the bottom.

A £500 wardrobe and £50 a month to dry clean it, sick pay … and all the stuff they showered on you until you realized, you’d better get higher because the shop floor sucks!

In a nutshell, Pano Christou started at position number 4 on the shop floor, NOT at the bottom!

#1 Team Member

#2 Barista or Hot Chef or Trainer (or in my time until 2015 Shift Runner)

#3 Team Leader

#4 Assistant Manager (the real benefits and money start here 🏆🏆🏆 )

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A GM review, quote:

»Amazing in the beginning – showered with benefits and entitlements and opportunities to advance. Terrible once you see how horribly mismanaged and micromanaged the company is. Zero care for human beings and nothing but boosting sales and company growth.«

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And here again, yes Pret pays a little more than the competition, also because Pret has the kitchen production that are mini sandwich factories, and staff have to slave double and triple for it and don’t get a pay-rise in years! Pret has no choice to pay a little more because if they would pay McDonald’s wages NO-ONE would work at Pret as it is too micro managing, back breaking work, a bullying environment and very complex!

And it’s a dead give-away that it took Pano 23 years to reach CEO level! I pressured former CEO and Pano’s mentor Clive Schlee on Twitter to step down after he and Pano (when UK Managing Director) ignored two customer deaths and 20+ injuries before it got public. Reluctantly Schlee “retired” to spare him the embarrassment of a resignation. He is on the board and own half of itsu with his body Pret RE-founder Julian Metcalfe.I wrote a small exposé on Metcalfe, his connection to the Royal Family and how I chased him off Twitter.

If the mounting pressure to step down would not have happened from several on social media, Schlee would still be CEO. And Pano now is stuck in the old Pret-way and is not at all inventive, but bows to the pressure to expand fast to the ongoing detriment of quality and safety.

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Pret is very good in making simple things very complicated! So, the little higher wage is the carrot on the stick. It’s a trap to lure people into working at Pret and then they get stuck believing and hoping that “one day” it may get better … And when the carrot has shriveled up, staff are too exhausted to recognize the bullsh!t for what it is.

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etc. etc. etc. etc. ………

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Pano’s “popularity” on review sites and the legacy Clive Schlee leaves behind:

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UPDATE 2026 (5 years later!):
Scores for Pano Christou and Pret, more than double the amount of reviews, but not much improvement:

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From Rags to Riches, the Pret A Manger “Love Treatment”

“Lovingly” handmade … (… and brainwashed)

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Bonus: Pano Christou putting his Emotional Labour into effect to spill some numbers after the first lock-down in a leaked video I received from a Pret staff and have passed on to the BBC:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaC_ZGktlpE&list=PLAlnT8XcpopZh1CDoZPM3h3-l_9v9unFS&index=26

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I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post.
An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret.
I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review, and was mentioned by the BBC.

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Thank you for reading/listening.

©2017 – Present: expret.org

Interview:

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https://expretdotorg.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/workplace-bullying-an-intervie-683101e6895da.m4a

Unless otherwise stated or linked to, this website and all writings within this site are the property of expret.org, LateNightGirl.org and are protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. Reproduction and distribution of my writings without written permission is prohibited.
©2017 – Present: expret.org, LateNightGirl.org unless otherwise stated. All Rights reserved. Disclaimer.

#1 #2 #3 #4 #cliveSchlee #panoChristou #pretAManger

Pret A Manger and Wage Theft (UPDATE 2026)

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UPDATE 05. August 2021

The UK Government is naming and shaming companies that didn’t pay staff, amongst which of course is Pret A Manger:

“Pret A Manger (Europe) Limited, Westminster, SW1E, failed to pay £9679.91 to 33 workers”

Link to Govt. site

And upfront, if you are new to my blog and read through the below wage theft issues in Pret, and you have been a longtime customer, you may think that Pret is generous. You may remember the £1000 announcement that former Pret CEO Clive Schlee did in 2018, well guess how that came about?! Spoiler alert: he made that announcement in the early hours after he was informed about my blog. More and in detail here: The Day Clive Schlee had a Bright Idee.

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Pret has settled twice in NY on wage theft and repaid 4000 workers. The wage theft in Pret is rampant, also in the UK. I had to chase my money countless times for years, even my last pay. In the UK workers hardly go to court because the legal system is very different and the rewards very low.

UPDATE 2026:

A THIRD classaction lawsuit is settled also in New York, and workers affected have until 2. January 2026 to claim payment. I keep saying that Pret steal wages/hours everywhere, but the legal system in the UK is not good for workers.

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At the bottom of this page I list a host of tricks Managers use to cheat already low-wage and overworked staff out of their pay. I explain also how management manipulate staff to get free labour out of them. I speak from own experience and what colleagues told me, as well as what staff write on review sites and social media.

A 2019 staff review from New York, from an all-rounder employee doing different tasks as Pret chronically under-staffs to maximize profit:

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Another review about chasing £100 payment and HQ staff playing dumb:

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A fed up staff member who confronts Pret on Twitter after not getting anywhere via phone or emails:

… and many more.

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Pret A Manger settles its second WAGE THEFT lawsuit

Link to article

One very detailed review touches on several issues in Pret, including sick-pay and takes a much closer look than most staff do:

Link to the review which is worth reading in full. But a few highlights, quote:

»Pret seems perfect if you throw it a quick look. Great pay, great food, great team mates, everyone’s so happy and friendly all the time… did you know that we have to? The “perfect Pret” standards state that the Pret employee is happy all the time, never drepressed. Not kidding, it’s printed in our locker. Sometimes it can be challenging maintaining a natural smile on my face for 8 hours straight. …
1. I recently had to call in sick, and it led to 2 days off work. When I logged in online on the website, it showed me someone put two different illnesses for those 2 days, and most oddly, both very wrong. I have already spoken to the managers about it, so how could they have gotten it wrong, as they wrote it down on the form in front of me? Intrigued, I looked into it a bit more (I have also realized, there is no one colleague of mine that bothered going into such depth researching). There is a very small subsection of a subsection on the website that states, in summary, you get paid, as a part-time worker, from the second day of illness, and as a full-time worker, from the third. I am part-time. I should have been paid for my second day. But what did Pret do? They put two different illnesses, so they don’t have to pay me (it counts as the first day of illness, for both days).
I have talked to some colleagues, they never got paid, no matter how long they have been working there for (the little subsection also states that if you’re more than 12 months older in the company, you’ll get wellness pay. For more information, please visit this website – followed by a broken link. That’s a lot of weird coincidences, isn’t it? …
Not everyone is like that though, there are some nice people, who don’t deserve to be associated with what I wrote. I am not discontinuing my contract with them because of these things either (mostly because I just need to make rent). I just feel very strongly that the general public view of this company is very far off from the truth, and I believe in using my voice.«

Please just read the full review, it’s very well exposed how Pret is cheating.

And a little reminder on what ONE man received on BONUS alone! Not to mention what all the other execs and shareholders receive.

Link

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UPDATE 2022:

As I write publicly and work with the press, Pret staff always leak issues to me which I pass on to the press, in this case Pret TWICE delaying to pay staff in 2022 under dodgy excuses. The 2. time during the Queen’s Jubilee weekend KNOWING that the public would be distracted with the celebrations and Monday was a bank holiday – all banks close to make arrangements for overdrafts etc.

I received a DM by devastated staff and passed it on to the Guardian:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGtqAE0T5oo&list=PLAlnT8XcpopZh1CDoZPM3h3-l_9v9unFS&t=87s

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The journalist then also started to dig deeper into Pret CEO Pano Christou’s pay, but after I already mentioned Pano’s pay of £300,000 in 2020 + bonus and then confirmed of his £400,000 pay + -£4million bonus in 2021 on my podcast.

The Guardian:

“Pret CEO handed near-£4m bonus in year staff pay was cut.
Pano Christou also given 27% salary rise in 2021 as chain took more than £50m in government support”

Link

Prat A Manger’s tricks and tactic to cheat staff out of their pay:

Upfront, to any Pret staff and any low-wage fast-food worker in general, ALWAYS write down the hours that you worked to compare to your payslip. I had a spreadsheet at home where I updated when I worked extra hours when and where. And I also made notes IMMEDIATELY on my phone when asked if I could work an extra hour, as I sometimes forgot to add extra hours to the spreadsheet at home. If I would not have done this, I would have worked for free for months as an hour here and an hour there adds up over 10 years. ALWAYS write down the ACTUAL hours you worked even to 15 minutes! Do the math, it adds up quickly!

Yes, there are genuine mistakes Managers do when they forget to add extra hours worked. But 1. it’s NOT a genuine mistake when this happens almost every week, and 2. it’s not genuine when the mistake is ALWAYS for the benefit of the Manager (bonus) and Pret! I cannot remember that any Manager accidentally overpaid me! Never! So, write down your hours and don’t let the Manager confuse or threaten you when you confront them on missing hours! A CLASSIC tactic by management is that they don’t have time to talk to you. KEEP BOTHERING THEM UNTIL YOU GOT YOUR CORRECT PAY! Keep a clear mind and trust YOURSELF! And join a Union!

  • Extra hours not paid: The most common way Pret tricks staff out of pay is that the Manager asks a Team Member (TM) if they can work 1 hour more due to extra busyness or someone called sick. Yet, let’s be frank, shops are ALWAYS understaffed! The TM works the extra hour(s) and then the Manager “forgets” to pay the extra hour(s).

    THIS HAPPENS ESPECIALLY when you work to help out in a different shop for a day or a week! The Manager of the other shop where you help out HOPES that you 1. don’t realize that they didn’t pay the extra hour and 2. that you can’t be bothered to contact that shop as you have to look up the phone number or go to your own home shop Manager to speak to the other Manager etc.

    Only in hindsight do I understand this trick. The Manager of the other shop where you help out for a day asks one of his own Team Members to come in 1 hour later than scheduled. Then the Manager turns around and asks me if I can stay 1 hour longer (where his own TM would have worked). Then the Manager “forgets” to pay me, and thus gets an hour of free labour!

    Asking his own TM to come an hour later. Asking me to stay 1 hour longer, doesn’t pay in hopes I don’t notice, the perfect way to get free labour! This is two-fold a cheat: his own TM is cheated out of 1 hour work and with it pay which I then work for, and I am cheated out of pay after having worked that TMs hour!

    When a Manager has a Team of around 25 staff and the Manager “forgets” to pay EACH TM 1 hour per week. Do the math on how much money they save per week, per month, per year! It’s like thieves who steal credit card information, they don’t wipe out the victims bank account when they steal CC numbers. They just go shopping a little bit here and a little bit there. The victim never knows that money is being REGULARLY stolen in small numbers and thus never reports it to stop the card being used.

    Same with shop Managers, they steal 1 hour here, 2 hours there, taking hours from several staff members in hopes no-one notices. And if they notice and confront the Manager, well it’s “just” 1 hour here and there! The Manager plays stupid and staff continue to give the benefit of the doubt. I had a Manager who tried his luck with me in a very blunt way once after I was sick for ONE day. By “mistake” he clicked 3 days in the computer instead of 1 day sickness! Thus he cheated me out of 14 hours (2x 7 hours per day). More on this further below on another trick.

  • Giving little time to do the job, then demanding to stay longer and not paying for overtime: This is the Pret-wide system. Staff are given VERY little time to do their job. Especially in the kitchen staff are expected to do their “bench” (amount of sandwiches/products for the shift) in a certain time. The times are unrealistic. So, either people cheat and don’t do the products properly cutting corners, or they are manipulated and told that they didn’t work well or fast enough, therefore have to stay longer UNPAID!

    Reality is, staff work EXTREMELY hard, fast and well under immense stress. But they get lied to, pressured, bullied, manipulated, and even sweet-talked to work longer for no pay! This staff review is THE most poignant I have found so far on Pret! I often use it in blog posts and on Twitter as this is THE BEST way to describe work conditions in Pret.

I even made an own “video” slide out of this review because no other review describes Pret A Manger in a nutshell like this person’s does!

https://vimeo.com/518197204

  • Link to review on Indeed

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  • Late Rotas: Rotas in Pret are supposed to be done 2 weeks in advance, but this never happens as Managers juggle the hours according to business needs. Managers KNOW they need more staff and more hours for them, but plan the rota VERY TIGHT and publish the rota in the staff room just 1 day before the new week starts. Staff can never plan ahead for their free time as Pret secretly demands staff to be on call 24/7 but pretend that rotas have to be done 2 weeks in advance. But it never happens.

    The Manager then puts me on my contracted hours on the rota, which are now 28 hours, but they know already that I will be working 40 – 60 hours as shops are purposely under-staffed to make as much money as possible and also to not waste money if the shops are quiet. I then work my usual 5 hours but will be asked every day if I can work longer! I agree because I am naive, hard working and give smiley Pret the benefit of the doubt.

    Then I forget to check my payslip the following week as I am too exhausted and also forgot to write down the extra hours. And I never realize how much on a regular basis I am being cheated out of my pay.

  • Delegating jobs close to finishing time: Another common trick is, the Manager asks you 5 minutes before your shift is finished to “quickly” do a task, like cleaning the Hot Chef baking trays or whatever other “quick” job. They know this will take at least 10 – 15 minutes, and because you don’t want to come across not being helpful, you agree. You then work around 15 minutes for free! Do this 2 or 3 times a week with new tasks the Manager comes up with, and you’re cheated out of 3 – 4 hours per month. So, Managers sit in the office checking Facebook while you work on the tills. And just before you finish your shift, the Manger or Team Leader comes out and asks if you can do this quick job, which in reality takes 15 minutes to do!

    After years of bullsh!t like this, I said to any new Manger who tried to pull that number on me, “Sorry, I have to leave for an appointment”. End of. They don’t need to know the reason for me leaving sharp at my finished time. My appointment may be to meet with a friend for the cinema or to walk a dog or to do some much needed self-care in taking my usual shower and go for a nap after an intensely stressful shift. It’s not their business why I have to leave, but I had no benefit of the doubt anymore to give away after years of BS like this!

  • Stealing from FREE Time: A systemic issue by cheating staff is to give them training material to read DURING their breaks or free time instead of training them in their PAID time during the shift! Training in Pret is appalling which I write extensively about in my open “letter” to the Prosecutor in the recent allergen trial. Staff are NOT fully trained, but instead are explained things in a rushed manner and given stuff to read during their break or at home. Pret stopped paying for breaks, so staff now have UNPAID breaks.

    But even while it was paid, Managers often want staff to “work” DURING their break. People read training material during breaks INSTEAD of resting from the intense work. I was often asked by management when I sat at a window for example, with the view to the outside tables, to keep checking the tables. When a customer left we had 1 minute to clear and clean the tables or risk losing Mystery Shopper bonus. So, I then started looking for spots to sit where I was with my back to the shop or I put my head down on my phone with my headphones on. So, even paid breaks where used to utilize staff to work or learn instead of leaving them the fuck alone to rest for 30 minutes! Exploitation on every turn in Pret!

  • Spreading out costs and pay: Back to the 14 hours my Manager didn’t pay by “mistakenly” adding 2 extra sick days. When I confronted him, he profusely apologized and then with a puppy look in his eyes asked me if he can re-pay in the coming 4 weeks and spread it out. I was new in Pret, naive and stupid, so I agreed. In reality I should have demanded the full 14 hour pay on THAT day! Pret and any company can do this. The Manager could and should have just send an urgent email to the payroll department to pay me the 14 hours THAT day! I was paid once in the same day from Pret on another issue.

    So, the Manager tries his luck and steals 5, 10 or more hours in ONE week, then when confronted he asks if he can reimburse spreading out over several weeks. This was his main goal from the get go to steal hours first, waiting to be confronted, and then wanting to spread out the pay. Spreading out costs will add to the Manager’s bonus. Two tricks the Manager tries: 1. steal a lot of hours in hopes the staff don’t realize. Then 2. when confronted, spread out the back pay in small installments to gain more bonus for the Manager.

    Any current Pret staff reading this, if you are asked if the missing pay can be added over another week(s), say NO and demand your full pay TODAY! You have no money already, you have bills piling up, and all the Manager and Pret are doing, is taking from YOU and adding to their profit and to THEIR pay!

    If your manager looks at you with their puppy eyes and asking you to spread the repay over several weeks, always have ONE number in front of your minds eye: £30,000,000!

    Clive Schlee, former CEO of Pret, received £30 MILLION on bonus alone!!! That was “just” his bonus, not to mention his annual salary! And add to that all the other executives working for Pret in Head Office and elsewhere and find a bucket to vomit into at the sheer number they earn on your backs! This IS about the rich taking from the poor and exploiting at every turn possible!

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  • Managers look for any way to NOT pay bonus. In their own discretion Managers can withdraw bonus when a staff member is even just 1 minute late for work. One colleague got his bonus scrapped because he turned up for work with a 3-day old beard after having had the weekend off. Pret demands that staff tell Pret BEFOREHAND if a guy wants to grow a beard! I have to find the info in the paper I still have. So, our bullying Manager just took that as an excuse to withdraw the bonus from my colleague. My colleague went bonkers and left the shop and Pret on the spot after all the other stuff the Manager was doing to us.
  • Working higher positions but not being paid for it: Most staff I spoke to this happened to them as well as to myself. When I was trained to be a Team Leader the Manager promised me a certain pay once I “graduate” to be a Team Leader. The training weeks I think was 6 weeks if I remember correct. My Manager did several things to cheat me out of my pay-rise. She kept postponing the graduation date under excuses. So, I worked as a Team Leader but didn’t receive the Team Leader pay. And then weeks later she also said that she couldn’t give me the promised pay she herself offered me (the highest rate for a Team Leader). Then when I confronted her after she kept postponing graduation and pay-rise day, I said to her that I would quit on the spot if she doesn’t graduate me and give me the promised pay she offered! I was graduated and got the promised pay rise on that day I threatened with leaving! And I meant it! I was so fed up with her lies and tricks she also did with colleagues!

    Then she and her boss, the Operations Manager (OPs) did another trick and removed the Assistant Manager from the shop, so I was doing double work and picked up where the Assistant Manager left off! That shop saved a huge chunk on monthly Assistant Manager wages and that work load then was dumped on me! Again, I was naive still and wouldn’t accept this exploitation today anymore.

    A common trick Managers do is to postpone training. The coffee maker who is in training to be a Barista with higher pay is being told that no spot is free for the training. Training only happens every few months, not every week. Because once people have completed the 2 or 3 days of training in Head Office, the shop has to give a first small pay-rise. Then a full pay-rise comes when the coffee maker “graduates” as a Barista weeks later. But training and later graduation day is being delayed to save money on the pay-rises.

    Also, shops have to PAY for the training! So, they do any- and everything to delay training. Thus, many people work in higher roles for MANY months without a pay rise!

    All the while top leadership and executives squander money on parties and flying to Dubai, Vegas, Paris … for leadership “meetings”.

  • Link
  • Last week’s pay not paid: When you leave Pret you MUST check that your LAST week is paid to you. When people start at Pret their first week of pay is paid after the second week. So after the first week, there will be NO pay. The first week’s pay is paid after the end of the second week. Pret did NOT pay me for my last week. I only realized after a year when I looked at the numbers more closely!!! The reason I didn’t notice at the time when I left and received my pay was because Pret fired me under pretense of other issues, and had to pay me 9 weeks of pay as I worked just short under 10 years in Pret.

    So, the chunk of money Pret paid made it confusing for me to notice that my last week wasn’t paid. I also was NOT sent my last payslip. I completely missed that theft because I flew back and forth between London and Germany where my dad just came out of a coma and was still in intensive care.

    Pret fired me days after my dad came out of a coma! Hence, I missed checking properly if my last week was paid. And of course it wasn’t! They think they got away with stuff and keep getting away. No they don’t and they won’t. Pret may have cheated me out of money and so many others, too. But this is your legacy Pret A Manger who always puts up the ethical and caring facade, while in reality Pret are greedy crooks, corrupt, thieves and liars!

If I missed anything in how they cheat low-wage staff out of money, just drop me a line via the contact form.

The following Unions are best for food workers:

BFAWU know the MOST about Pret from my blog and have already helped individual Pret people.

IWGB specialize in helping foreign workers and even have a former Pret staff working there.

Pret staff need to get active and stand up for your right, respect, dignity and better work conditions because the exploitation will just get worse!

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https://vimeo.com/942984567

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I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. Schlee has been appointed CEO of itsu in 2024 by Julian Metcalfe who gave him the CEO spot at Pret many years ago.
I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post.
An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret and What shop MANAGERS & HQ staff say about Pret incl. CEO Pano Christou.
I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review as well as mentioned by the BBC.

Please also see the MEDIA page for more on my work with the press.

NEW LinkTree.

Thank you for reading/listening.

©2017 – Present: expret.org

Interview:

(Please be aware that the player shows 0:00 but just press play)

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https://expretdotorg.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/workplace-bullying-an-intervie-683101e6895da.m4a

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Unless otherwise stated or linked to, this website and all writings within this site are the property of expret.org and are protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. Reproduction and distribution of my writings without written permission is prohibited.
©2017 – Present: expret.org unless otherwise stated. All Rights reserved. Disclaimer.

#CliveSchlee #PanoChristou #PretAMangerPay #PretAMangerReview #PretAMangerReviews #PretAMangerWageTheftWageTheft #PretAMangerWages #WageTheftInPret

Pret A Manger CEO Pano Christou’s Bullsh!t

I want to dissect a talk and interview Pano Christou did a few months ago with the same robotic slogans Pret use to continue fooling the public, the press and the business world.

I will pick out some sentences and directly link to them (blue underlined) and then show what is REALLY happening.

For new readers who don’t know my story and the reality of Pret, I write so blunt after how I (and colleagues in general) was treated in Pret for years, especially once I became bereaved and how the top leadership and HQ were involved.

From here on I write Pano Christou as PC. Everything he says, every slogan is a mantra, a repeat, a brainwash Pret repeat over and over again, and what Crisis Report UK called “doubling down”. After the customer deaths and injuries with Pret’s appalling lack of action, instead of rethinking their true business, Pret doubled down on them and continued to make these claims.

I show WHY these claims are bullsh!t.

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The Beginnings of Pret

Pano Christou (PC) starts off with the same brainwash and refusal to mention nor honour the late Jeffrey Hyman, who opened the first Pret store in 1983 in Hampstead. It ran for a while but then closed again. Sinclair Beecham and Julian Metcalfe then bought the name, concept etc. and RE-founded Pret in 1986 Victoria. That’s why across my blog and socials I always refer to them as RE-co-founders.

A friend of Hyman who paid tribute to Hyman’s anniversary of his death, even told me that Pret allegedly got someone to keep changing the Wikipedia entry to delete Hyman. The person then got banned from Wiki and Hyman remains on that page.

After Hyman wasn’t removed from Wiki anymore, Pret around 2019/2020-ish started putting “London 1986” on cups and above shop entrances to keep brainwashing the public.

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Link

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Understaffing

In September 2024 Pret had 700 shops worldwide and as of November 2025 have approx. 720-ish shops plus minus.

The number PC gives of staff in September 2024 is 13,500 which is crazy understaffed as Pret had about 500 shops worldwide in 2018 but 12,000 staff.

Now, Pret have always understaffed, even in my time, but it’s even worse now, especially seeing the staff AND customer reviews on various platforms.

Numbers from 2024: .

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Little side-note: Of course Pret have more female than male workers, women are always more in service work than men. But he pretends this means that Pret is female friendly. See the front of my website and scroll down to just some of the screenshots about sexual advancements towards females. I worked with female assistant managers and managers who got to their position via the bedroom. With some it was an open secret. This exists in every company, but especially in low-wage companies.

He mentions that he has 2/3 females in his executive team. First of all, that’s low; secondly one of these, Claire Clough UK Managing Director, just resigned, and PC has still to announce a new UK MD (as of November 2025).

My guess is, unless JAB Holdings axed her, or she resigned for personal reasons, with Pret having lost a third of their value and owners JAB considering IPO or selling Pret, Clough might have smelled the coffee and jumped the sinking ship.

The Pret Foundation that PC mentions to “alleviate homelessness (and poverty like he said before)” is what companies do to get more funds and tax-breaks. I write about the Pret Foundation and how it not only did NOT help me as a long-time Pret staff once I became bereaved and reached out to Pret, but they just about do a few things to present to the public while exploiting the workforce and work to get rid of bereaved people and those with mental disabilities. There are plenty of reviews and social media accounts on this as well as my own experience.

I write in another post about Pano Christou’s audacity to cut staff wages during the pandemic, while PC got pay-rises, millions in bonus and tax payer’s £50 million injection. Then he does a half marathon in Hackney to “alleviate poverty” while cutting staff pay, and straight AFTER he cut staff wages asked the staff for donations for his Pret Foundation marathon. This man has no self-awareness and shame whatsoever!

On a staff reviews video I incorporated an outcry by Loose Women presenter Nadia Sawalha on her 500,000+ followings Instagram account, when she learnt that Pret made temporary wage cuts permanent. Her stern words to reached a lot of people. She only made a minor numbers mistake where she said that Pret wanted to cut 11% off £8.91

Pret always pay a few pennies above minimum wage to appear generous. But workers who are lured in don’t realize that they have to work triple for this, will be on the same pay for years to come except for the government minimum wage rise. And staff also get coerced and fear managed to regularly work overtime without pay, as well as having to chase their correct hours worked in pay almost weekly.

Then during the pandemic Pret made the previous “temporarily” pay cuts permanent and cut that pay down TO THE minimum wage of £8.91 at the time (2021). Nadia just mixed up the numbers, but her message is still vital as up until then, she assumed Pret were one of the good guys. And up until then about the speed of service, Nadia didn’t know about the mystery shopper 60 seconds rule. It’s worth hearing her whole message.

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https://vimeo.com/945309321

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Be Kind, Honest, Generous?

PC is asked here about the work culture in Pret and shares the usual bull-crap that if you work hard you get noticed. Bullsh!t. If you work hard in Pret, you get exploited. If you cheat and partake in the toxic culture, you get promoted. The Pret “Academy” is a joke as staff are not trained there, but rather indoctrinated. And a former Development Manager from the “Academy”, Lila Warren was put on my case to find out the right time to fire me as I kept raising issues of bullying and other things and was traumatised.

PC with this brainwash to work hard to get noticed is just the age-old lie by corporate executives to drive people to work their butts off for little reward, hoping that “one day” … and that day will never come for most.

Everyone from HQ and HR who was part of my ordeal is now gone from Pret, so Pret can say that these people don’t work there anymore. When Private Equity takes over, they usually get rid of people. They get rid of “sacred cows”.

What PC says looks good on paper, but reality is very different, especially the training is not good and staff have to train themselves via iPads on their own time on unpaid breaks or at home. I and many I worked with was never trained properly.

And training managers to teach and allow people to be authentic is the biggest bullsh!t Pano Christou says. Here is just the tip of the iceberg on reviews from shop managers, OPS manager, even head office staff including how poorly they think of Pano Christou.

PC talking about the right environment for happy service is another joke. 72% of reviews on Trustpilot (1 & 2 stars combined) are unhappy with Pret, many on the service and atmosphere in shops DESPITE Pret having weekly mystery shopper visits.

I was leaked information that Pret at times delete the bonus and cash reward. So, staff who are even more over worked, understaffed and hardly receive rewards lost morale. And this reflects on review websites and on social media comments.

And I remember in my times, every time Pret held a summer and winter party, costing them thousands of pounds, many shops in the immediate week after the parties didn’t get bonus despite knowing for sure that everything went well. Some started wondering if Pret are taking our bonuses to pay for the parties. At the time I told my colleagues, “don’t be silly…” But now I believe that, after all the other wage theft, hours missing, overtimes not paid, pay delays etc. all on an ongoing basis everywhere.

Trustpilot reviews on Pret marked as “Poor” (as of mid November 2025):

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The Pret “Joy” Brainwash

This whole thing about spreading joy is a typical Pret facade to appear happy and friendly, enforced by strict weekly mystery shopper visits that Pret refused to mention before I called them out on it. Staff suffer with mental health issues and strain while forced to appear happy and joyful.

Pret do what they call a “buddy day”, where they send ONCE a year a staff from head office into a shop to work there for a day. He says here in this video that Pret do this twice a year, but that’s not true. In my 10 years in 30+ shops, there was either only ONCE a year a “buddy” coming from HQ or none at all.

And when they came, it was more a burden for us because they came at 8 or 9am instead of our usual 5am start. They started with breakfast and after doing a few things stood around or fiddled on their mobile phones. We were always glad when they left as we had to slow down and managers had to behave and act friendly towards us staff where they normally where rude and overbearing.

He claims that he learns so much and goes back to the office with a list of things to change. Well, why are there no changes and the toxic, overbearing culture continues Mr. CEO?

The idea is good on paper, but flawed and dishonest in practice.

And the “values” and behaviours (PC here cleverly doesn’t mention the behaviours) I have put on another blog post after Pret DELETED them off their website when journalist Timothy Noah criticised these. The happy teams / happy customers brainwash clearly doesn’t exist as can be seen in the Trustpilot and other reviews as well as staff reviews and social media comments.

And PC here saying that he loves when people come to him to tell him about issues is also a joke. I approached HR with suggestions once I became bereaved, and from then on had a target on my back. This reached the highest levels in Pret that Pret ended up offering me money if I sign a NDA to never speak about my ordeal. I declined and write here.

And putting shops and teams first should go without saying. Shops and teams are THE reason for Pret to exist in the first place. But the “happiness” does not come from Pret treating staff well, it comes from the strict, micromanaging mystery shopper scheme that penalise the whole team when one staff doesn’t smile.

And of course the CEO and executives love to walk into shops and present themselves as such important entitled bosses to scare the teams on top of mystery shoppers.

Again, repeat, staff smile BECAUSE of strict mystery shopper penalties and extra cash, NOT because Pret care for the staff.

Pret is short for pretentious.

Here is the most poignant former staff review (from Indeed) I’ve found and it remains my favourite review as I still feel the pain and after effect of what that person wrote. That review used to have 55 yes and 3 no votes, but Indeed deleted / hid all these votes. I wouldn’t be surprised if Pret reached out to debate the voting system. But I still have a screenshot of this review with the votes.

I dedicated a whole slide on this one review as this shares in a nutshell how excruciating it is to work in Pret and the mental suffering even after work at home. I underline every word.

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https://vimeo.com/945322989

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Never Standing Still

This part has always bothered me greatly that Pret put into their Values and Behaviours booklet. PC explains nothing really helpful about their demand for staff to “never stand still“, so let me explain why Pret want staff to constantly keep moving.

For one, this is so staff appear engaged in their work instead of exhausted and bored, which to Pret in particular is extreme compared to any other hospitality company I’ve ever worked in. I worked in all kinds of hospitality in three countries since I was 16 years old, and even with 14/15 helped out in the kitchen of a local pub to top up my pocket money. But I have NEVER ever experienced such strain, dishonesty, bullsh!t games, toxic culture than in Pret.

People ask, “why did you stay so long?”
For one, I was used to hard work in this brutal industry and was like a trained athlete holding out under extreme work conditions. And two, I was brainwashed in Pret to think things will get better the higher I climb the “ladder”. Plus, during bereavement and trauma I had no-where to go. I couldn’t sell myself to a new employer as I was severely traumatised while still functioning very well. I stayed with the devil, Pret, that I knew, rather than go to a new devil that I didn’t know.

Secondly, staff that never stand still, especially in an already stressful, noisy, hot environment, get so incredibly exhausted that they have no time to think for themselves and stand up against this toxic, exploitative work environment. This is very typical for low-wage companies. Keep staff exhausted so they don’t have the strength to question things and stand up against it. Watch / read that slide here above with the blue writings. It truly is THE best description of Pret inhumane work conditions.

It is borderline modern-day slavery type of demand. If you stand still you WILL get reprimanded! And don’t you even dare to stop smiling while we exhaust you.

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Link to a recent ex-staff review which I completely underline from own and colleagues experience. Many people on Trustpilot write with their own names, and have a mix of positive and negtaive reviews, like Miriam here has. For information, I do not know this person, I am just monitoring news and updates on anything Pret related.

Miriam’s full review for people with visual impairment where programs cannot read screenshots. Quote verbatim of review from 27. October 2025:

Title: scammers, Never work for this company

»Never work for this company; they’re scammers. They steal money from your paycheck, don’t pay you for the hours you work, and don’t answer emails. One of the worst companies I’ve ever worked for. They require you to work hard and then refuse to pay you what you’re owed. In some cafeterias, they leave the staff alone, and you can’t get proper breaks.«

End of quote.

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Pret’s “Misery” Shopper Scheme

PC is asked about the service and mystery shopper scheme which until I wrote about it from 2018/19 on, Pret refused to mention in public, pretending staff are “naturally” happy and smiley. I renamed the mystery shopper to “misery” shopper for a reason! The weekly mystery shopper visit, the outer appearance / facade of Pret, is THE SOLE focus for Pret via managers, pushing staff to smile, love-bomb, serve within 1 minute, clean fast etc. as a lot of their quarterly bonuses rely on it.

Pano Christou here is very clever in avoiding to answer the question on HOW the misery shopper actually works, so he diverts to franchises and percentage numbers. So, I will explain how staff are fear- and micromanaged via weekly mystery shoppers.

I was even reprimanded in the office when the mystery shopper commented that I didn’t smile, despite also commenting that I was polite and efficient. The mystery shopper didn’t know that I just buried my brother, but Pret and my managers knew. There was no mercy.

Here are 3 consecutive slides of excerpts on what Pret demands from staff. Some of these reports are older, at times Pret change the phrasing or some questions, but the core of their demands is the same: make Pret appear happy and generous, no matter what.

Keep playing the slide to part 2 and then part 3. If it doesn’t play automatically within this player, click on the YouTube sign to link to the playlist to go to the other parts:

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-llcpyI46oQ&list=PLAlnT8XcpopZh1CDoZPM3h3-l_9v9unFS&index=23

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Doing the Right Thing???

Before Pret were banned in 2018 from advertising their food as “natural”, as this was one of many lies, Pret had a slogan on their website, marketing and even HR (people team) to be “doing the right thing naturally – it’s what makes Pret, Pret”.

I always felt disgusted at this slogan, as it’s the audacity to make these claims while ignoring staff bereavements and other staff illnesses (not paying for the first 3 days even with a sick note), customer deaths and injuries, even call-outs for a faulty freezer door handle resulting in staff getting trapped for over 2.5 hours fighting for survival getting Pret fined £800,000 in 2023 etc. etc. etc. At least they scrapped the “naturally”.

Regarding pay, Pret have a lot of loopholes and tricks in place to avoid paying workers, one is to “train” a team member for let’s say barista role, but then the manager delays sending them to training days to avoid raising the pay. And once they do go to training courses, they delay “graduation” to again avoid the final pay rise for that position. Not to mention all the other dodgy ways to avoid paying as I linked already above and Pret were called out several times in the press, lawsuits and by the government.

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Link

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NEW Class-action Lawsuit coming up AGAIN!

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Link

It is beyond me how people, especially journalists, just believe everything Pret say without looking any closer, and even forgetting fast about their neglect to act after customers died. It took the deaths to become public for Pret to act. Not before. It took Pret TWO YEARS to apologise to the Ednan-Laperouse family that suffered the first customer death of their daughter/sister Natasha.

Pano Christou was UK Managing Director when customers died and got injured. He was the right hand man of then CEO Clive Schlee who “retired” from Pret in 2019 after public pressure including my blog. Schlee is Christou’s mentor and remains involved with the Pret Foundation, and since November 2024 is CEO of itsu which he partially owns. Retirement my a**se.

Little side note: In my post The Day Clive Schlee had a Bright Idee I explain the timing of Schlee’s £1000 announcement. He made that announcement in the night from 28. to 29. May 2018 when he and Pret were made aware of my blog by Sannukka Nevala, who was my OPs manager for a while, whom I sent a link to my blog. Schlee then quickly made the £1000 announcement after 1am on 29. May 2018 after I sent the link of my blog to Sannukka Nevala late in the evening on 28. May 2018.

I sent my blog to Nevala because I knew she can’t keep a secret.

And the 29. May 2018 remained the most visited day for over a year as Pret were made aware of my blog, them visiting and Schlee then quickly making the panic move that he always did, to announce £1000 to all staff to try and counter ahead of time once the press and public become aware of my blog. What a clown! 😀

The 29th May was the best views for about a year until my blog grew.

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It didn’t help Schlee with the Glassdoor scores as staff always spill the coffee beans on the reality of Pret. And Schlee then quickly got Pano Christou placed on Glassdoor in July 2019 despite Schlee’s retirement date of September 2019.

Schlee’s last month on Glassdoor: 30. June 2019 before retiring in September 2019:

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Pano Christou already on Glassdoor in July 2019 despite officially not yet being CEO until September 2019 – Clive Schlee in true Pret fashion passing the buck downwards and jumping ship. What a Captain! 😀

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Pano Christou’s Glassdoor scores as of mid November 2025, SIX YEARS after he started as CEO – not as bad as Pret’s Trustpilot scores, though. 😉

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And PC mentioning in the video that Pret have employees from many different ethnic backgrounds, LGBTQ+ etc., of course. All companies, especially low-wage employers in London especially have this. But in Pret most high paid Caucasian employees work in head office, and as OPs and shop managers. Most of these are from the UK, Germany, France etc. Most workers with ethnic background, especially from Eastern Europe and black, brown staff work in kitchens and shops.

I’ve been to head office many times, the contrast in ethnic background between high paid staff at HQ and low-wage workers in shops couldn’t be clearer. And British people often get either a rejection or no response at all to their job applications for shops. Pret don’t want British people in shops, they work too slow (compared to people from Eastern Europe who work like machines) and Brits know their rights too well, also wanting more pay.

And when itsu founder Julian Metcalfe behaved in such a media-savvy way to retweet my tweets where I threw itsu staff reviews at him, he deleted his Twitter account and now these Glassdoor reviews of him being accused of being sexist, aggressive etc. these Glassdoor reviews DISSAPPEARED. Yep, companies seem to just contact review websites to get reviews hidden/deleted. But I still have those and spread them across the Internet, no matter how much Pret & Co try to shut me down.

I’ve put them here as well:

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWo2iJN-dKQ&list=PLAlnT8XcpopZh1CDoZPM3h3-l_9v9unFS&index=2

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My small exposé on Metcalfe, his love for zero hour contracts and robots, life-long connection to the Royal family, a questionable connection (Jeffrey Epstein), what staff say about him, how suddenly all the negative reviews about him on Glassdoor disappeared after I sent it to him, why some Asian people don’t like him etc.

When Schlee was still CEO of Pret, to me he was the Ronald McDonald Clown of Pret. The friendly face to fool the public. Pano Christou I call “Panocchio” 🤥 for all the dishonesty of Pret.

Itsu now is mainly owned by Private Equity firm Bridgepoint that owned Pret between 2008 and 2018 making a sh!tload of money, squeezing the hell out of us staff. But JAB Holdings / Reimann family is even worse.

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Doing the right thing naturally according to Natasha Ednan-Laperouse’s parents:

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kj0kkmeD71w&t=19s

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I explain across my blog that in 2017, about 11 months, almost a year after Natasha died, and after in 2015 Pret also were sued in New York by a man who landed in hospital ALSO from sesame and other customers’ injuries, Pret put on a seminar in the Barbican. But the training sessions were in the upstairs rooms and amphitheatre for a week (or it was 2 weeks, can’t remember, but certainly a week). All shop managers, assistant managers and team leaders had to take turns from areas to attend a few hours on a designated day to “learn” about customer service.

Invite email to the “seminar”. Press CTRL and + (plus) to enlarge the screenshot:

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The slogan / title of this seminar was “Be Kind, Honest, Generous”.

A tweet by someone mentioning the “kind, honest, generous” that the Development department put on. Named here is Sarah Bohn who now also left Pret like so many from the old guard. Bohn was one of the note takers on my grievance hearings I raised against leaders who targeted me. She was as toxic as many in the HR and training departments. She blocked me on Twitter early on. So far to being kind, honest and generous.

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It was basically just the same old, same old: how to love-bomb customers and that we had to stop calling customers sir or madam as some got upset being mis-gendered.

Again, this was a year AFTER Natasha died. There was NO MENTION WHATSOEVER about a customer death and several injuries up until then. Nothing whatsoever. There was no emphasis on allergen or labelling,. NOTHING!!!

This is Pret “doing the right thing naturally”!

We just were told the same thing to love-bomb customers, stop saying sir/madam and other childish bull-crap we already knew about. We were told to bring back what was “taught” in the seminar to the rest of the team members in the shops. We of course didn’t, because we didn’t learn anything new and were under extreme scrutiny every week by mystery shoppers. We laughed about “be kind, honest, generous” as we knew Pret wasn’t. And where was Pret’s kindness, honesty and generosity in information about customer fatality and injuries.

WHERE WAS PRET BEING KIND

and honest and generous to customers to inform them about Natasha’s death and multiple injuries before AND after Natasha’s death?

Where was Pret’s “kindness” and honesty about Celia Marsh, the 2. customer who died?

Celia Marsh’s death and Isobel Colnaghi’s narrow survival in 2017 was just another “generosity” of Pret.

Where was Pret’s “generosity” with “honest” information to prevent further deaths and injuries while bullying staff to smile?

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And where was Pret’s generosity to invest in labelling to prevent further deaths and injuries?

If Pret would have informed the public, implemented change, I firmly believe Celia Marsh, the 2. customer who died in 2017 would be alive! She would have avoided Pret or Pret would have implemented change. But nopes, “doing the right thing” for Pret meant, full steam ahead, profit over lives.

And this was under Bridgepoint, before JAB took over. And under JAB Pret were fined £800,000 ($1 million) in 2023 after ignoring for 19 months faulty freezer door call-outs. Staff kept getting trapped for a few minutes, until a staff got trapped for over 2.5 hours in 2021 fighting for her life. She just wore a short sleeve T-shirt and had no mobile phone with her as Pret don’t allow staff carrying their phones with them.

I explain in my £800K post WHY this staff member was never missed by her colleagues for 2 hours 45 minutes.

The customer fatalities and injuries is still one of my biggest upsets about it all. I was a Team Leader with part of my job description having been health and safety, and I took that very serious. I was known by my teams and managers for being overly careful and strict on health and safety issues, even throwing out hundreds of pounds (in £ money) of food and drink per shift when it was below the safe temperatures due to broken fridges in over-heated shops during the summer etc.

My managers hated me for that, but couldn’t do anything as I followed procedure. And even then my shops often became top shop and in the top 10 of all shops. I got never promoted beyond team leader position mind you, as I followed procedure and refused to cheat on expiry dates etc. But I slept well at nights. But NOT being told about customer deaths, Pret NOT closing shops to implement changes could have potentially caused me and my colleagues to injure further or even cause death to customers on our shifts.

I speak about this in detail on my podcast.

And regarding food waste / donations, a lot of Pret’s food at the end of the day either gets SOLD via the Too Good To Go (TGTG) app, even the hot food that Pret told us BEFORE the pandemic to not even give for free to charity due to safety issues. Since the pandemic profit losses, Pret grab more money than ever. Food safety out the window. Again.

Too Good To Go blocked me on Twitter for pointing out the safety issues to them. At least they can’t claim to not know concerns, should customers get food poisoned. I keep all the receipts.

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And whatever is not sold via TGTG is thrown away if no unpaid volunteer from charities pick it up.

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Customers post pictures and videos of Pret’s food waste in the streets in various countries:

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hay3Tsw-TP8&list=PLAlnT8XcpopZh1CDoZPM3h3-l_9v9unFS&index=16

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Pano Christou’s Self-Admiration

In September 2025 Pano Christou posted a picture on his Facebook. This photo is from the early 2010s when he was UK MD. I remember this picture very well because it was plastered everywhere on Pret’s intranet regarding Christou. He also uses a photo where the backdrop is Pret’s old logo with “Natural” food on it for which Pret got banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in 2018.

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Link

His Facebook account as of mid November 2025 has 130 friends. When Clive Schlee “retired” from Pret in Sep. 2019 his Twitter account remained until July 2020 as “CEO of Pret”, as if he couldn’t let go. It was closed down in the beginning of July 2020.

With PC’s 2010’s photo of himself as UK MD posted on his Facebook in Sep. 2025 is an indication to me that he misses “the old times” and is lost at the top of the lonely CEO spot.

But what is even more pathetic and sad is that Pano Christou LIKED his own picture. And as of 14.11.2025 updating this post, no-one has liked his picture.

Pano Christou, maybe it’s time to resign and look for a better workplace, so you won’t look so lost at the top spot while stealing wages and ignoring safety issues, the last public issue being a staff almost dying in a freezer.

I took photos of the screen as screenshots now don’t capture the dates when hovering over it.

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The Beginning of the End of Pret?

I don’t think so. What may happen is that Pret get sold again and handed to the next Private Equity “pimp” to squeeze whatever is left of Pret. Pret lost a third of their value (or current owners JAB Holdings under the Reimann family, over-valued Pret in 2018) and are over £500 million in debt, which is normal for Private Equity. In 2024 RE-co-founder Sinclair Beecham returned to Pret to help fix the mess, as in my opinion from knowing a bit of Pano Christou (PC), the CEO is too busy portraying himself as this great dude and repeats the same slogans in a robotic brainwash to continue fooling the public. Pret have lost favour with the mainstream press, so Pano Christou does his rounds on small unknown business podcasts. He truly seems dissociated from reality.

At least he removed the “Lovingly handmade in this kitchen today” bullsh!t in a high stress, toxic, bullying environment with a fake happiness enforced by weekly “misery” shoppers.

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Crisis Report UK on Pret’s Neglect

Last, but certainly not least, a recent video by a new YouTube channel that already has thousands of subscribers early on. It sounds AI generated, and unfortunately a lot of issues are missing like the £800,000 fine after Pret yet again ignored safety issues and a staff almost died in a walk-in freezer. But whoever did this video, and even while using AI voice, did a great job.

A little clickbaity title, but nevertheless good piece overall.

On my podcast I added a few more issues and expanded on some things.

The conclusion of Pano Christou’s interview and speech for me is either, he is deeply delusional or right out lying, or both. I leave it to the reader to ponder on this.

Support small independent businesses and join a union. Always.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFsCmlavsw0

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I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. Schlee has been appointed CEO of itsu in 2024 by Julian Metcalfe who gave him the CEO spot at Pret many years ago.
I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post.
An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret and What shop MANAGERS & HQ staff say about Pret incl. CEO Pano Christou.
I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review as well as mentioned by the BBC.

Please also see the MEDIA page for more on my work with the press.

NEW LinkTree

PayPal.Me

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Thank you for reading/listening.

©2017 – Present: expret.org

Interview:

(Please be aware that the player shows 0:00 but just press play)

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https://expretdotorg.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/workplace-bullying-an-intervie-683101e6895da.m4a

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Unless otherwise stated or linked to, this website and all writings within this site are the property of expret.org and are protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. Reproduction and distribution of my writings without written permission is prohibited.
©2017 – Present: expret.org unless otherwise stated. All Rights reserved. Disclaimer.

#business #mystery #panoChristou #pretAMangerCeo #reviews #travel #writing

In light of the announcement by Pret A Manger to drastically change the subscription in September 2024, why I believe that Pret scrapping the 5 drinks per day & 20% food rebate on the subscription might actually save Pret:
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#pret #PretSubscription #ExPret #ExPretStaff #pretamanger #clubpret #pretsubscription #coffeesubscription #SinclairBeecham #panochristou

Is Pret A Manger RE-founder Sinclair Beecham saving Pret?

Or does Beecham act as the “secret” CEO of Pret? And how customers have lowered their own standards and expectations, just to get cheaper or “free” products. Audio version o…

Bullied during bereavement in Pret A Manger

In light of the announcement by Pret A Manger to drastically change the subscription in September 2024, why I believe that Pret scrapping the 5 drinks per day & 20% food rebate on the subscription might actually save Pret:
↘️
https://expret.org/2024/07/19/is-pret-refounder-sinclair-beecham-saving-pret <

#pret #PretSubscription #ExPret #ExPretStaff #pretamanger #clubpret #pretsubscription #coffeesubscription #SinclairBeecham #panochristou

Is Pret A Manger RE-founder Sinclair Beecham saving Pret?

Or does Beecham act as the “secret” CEO of Pret? And how customers have lowered their own standards and expectations, just to get cheaper or “free” products. Audio version o…

Bullied during bereavement in Pret A Manger
Pret A Manger Year in Review 2023

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