Pret A Manger founder Julian Metcalfe, who sold sandwich chain for £364 million, says UK restaurants face a ‘terrifying’ future due to rising food and energy costs
- He said that when interest rates hit the working people, they will cause a shock
- The 62-year-old said prices for some ingredients have suddenly doubled
- He said prices will be cheaper than competitors and probably a third of others
Pret A Manger founder Julian Metcalfe, who sold the sandwich chain for £364 million, says British restaurants face a ‘terrifying’ future due to rising food and energy costs.
The entrepreneurial giant said that rate hikes – which are currently at 2.25 percent – will send a terrible shock to working people and businesses.
The 62-year-old said the cost of some ingredients has suddenly doubled, while staple food sales have halved.
The successful entrepreneur told the Telegraph he knows competitors’ energy bills have increased tenfold because “food production consumes a huge amount of energy.”
Pret A Manger founder Julian Metcalfe (right) who sold sandwich chain for £364 million says UK restaurants face ‘terrifying’ future due to rising food and energy costs
Mr Metcalfe founded Pret A Manger at the age of 27 when he and college friend Sinclair Beecham set up the first store in Victoria Street, central London.
He told reporters that prices will be cheaper than competitors and probably a third of those of others. According to statistics, London’s restaurants are still below pre-Covid levels
Mr Metcalfe – who has an estimated net worth of £215 million – admitted that problems in the industry could be good for the fast food chain Itsu which he founded in 1997.
He told reporters that prices will be cheaper than competitors and probably a third of those of others.
And according to recent figures, restaurant reservations in London are suffering from pre-Covid levels.
The serial businessman sympathizes with colleagues in the industry, but is adamant that he can find a way to improve and adapt during the economic turbulence.
Sinclair Beecham and Julian Metcalfe, former owners of Pret a Manger sandwich bars, stand in front of one of their old shops
Mr Metcalfe founded Pret A Manger at the age of 27 when he and college friend Sinclair Beecham set up the first store in Victoria Street, central London.
His advice to improve conditions in the economy in general is to lower VAT, business rates and relax immigration controls.
Raising the VAT rate to 10 percent, as he suggested, would alleviate some of the costs, but experts fear even a small cut would cost the government billions of pounds.
At the same time, net migration remains at an all-time high, reaching nearly 250,000 in the past 12 months.
Mr Metcalfe founded Pret A Manger at the age of 27 when he and college friend Sinclair Beecham set up the first store in Victoria Street, central London.
He claimed his company was boosted by the free movement of people after Britain opened its doors to the A8 countries – the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – in 2004.
In 2008, he sold the company to equity firm Bridgepoint for £364 million.
According to statistics, there are now 419 Pret stores in the UK.
His more recent project Itsu is a fast food restaurant that will not exacerbate the “incredible” obesity epidemic hitting the country.
He also thinks office life has changed forever and is eager to adapt his business, which opened in 1997.
According to its own data, Itsu bookings increased by 15 percent from Tuesday to Thursday, but by 20 percent on Monday and Friday.