ES News email The latest headlines in your inbox twice a day Monday - Friday plus breaking news updates Enter your email address Continue Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid You already have an account. Please log in Register with your social account or click here to log in I would like to receive lunchtime headlines Monday - Friday plus breaking news alerts, by email Update newsletter preferences

The boss of Pret A Manger has revealed the sociable secret of how to get served a free coffee in the sandwich chain he hopes to make as big as McDonald’s.

Chief executive Clive Schlee said he has given staff the power to hand out free drinks or food to the customers they like best - or would like to take home.

He told the Standard: “We looked at loyalty cards but we didn’t want to spend all that money building up some complicated Clubcard-style analysis.

“Instead the staff have to give away a certain number of hot drinks and food every week. They will decide ‘I like the person on the bicycle’ or ‘I like the guy in that tie’ or ‘I fancy that girl or that boy’. It means 28 per cent of people have had something free. It’s a nice, different way of doing it.”

Mr Schlee, who was unveiling record profits for the fast growing British chain, told the Standard he hopes to one day rival the likes of McDonald’s and Starbucks with stores spanning the globe.

He said: “We’d like to be a successful British global company – one that is really successful in different continents and that would be a very worthy goal.

“There’s only been five or six companies over the years that have managed that and most of them have been US companies. British ones have never really made it.

“We’re going to do it bit by bit and quite cautiously. McDonald's has been around for 60 years, so you can’t do this in one generation.”

The global ambitions will start close to home in south London where Pret is relatively under represented with only 15 outlets.

Mr Schlee also said early signs suggest a new late-night dinner service at the chain’s Strand store is proving so successful it could be rolled out to other parts of central London: “We’ve got a lot of shops in busy theatre districts like St Martin’s Lane, Covent Garden and so on.

You can see these shops are prime real estate and in the evening customers want the location, they probably also want alcohol and they are less speed-obsessed and can spend more time to relax.”

The lofty ambitions come as Pret revealed sales jumped 16 per cent last year to £594 million, with pre-tax profits rising 14 per cent to £76 million. The company opened 33 new stores in the UK and overseas, including a first site in Shanghai.

It now has 288 outlets in the UK with 160 in London. It has 374 worldwide.

The biggest selling item remains the banana, closely followed by porridge, while the best-selling sandwich, which had been the tuna baguette for several years, has been overtaken by the chicken Caesar baguette.

Freshly made juices have also jumped, with more Green Goodness juices being sold than chicken and avocado sandwiches.