Company plans to turn most of Eat’s 94 stores into Veggie Prets by 2021 if deal is approved

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Pret a Manger is to rapidly expand its vegetarian chain after buying sandwich business Eat for an undisclosed sum.

Clive Schlee, Pret’s chief executive, said the company hoped to convert the majority of Eat’s 94 outlets to Veggie Prets by the end of next year if the deal is given the green light by the competition watchdog.

“We will have to go at pace,” said Schlee, who wants to hire more specialist vegetarian chefs, build a bigger menu and give Veggie Prets a different feel from the established chain.

The group has four vegetarian outlets, three in London and one in Manchester, but Schlee said the group was keen to capitalise on a fast growing market.

“This is a tipping point in our long-term journey towards a more vegetarian world,” he said.

If the Competition and Markets Authority approves the deal, the Eat name will disappear from the high street just over 23 years after it was founded by husband and wife Niall and Faith MacArthur near Charing Cross station in central London.

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The majority of Eat’s outlets are in London but it also has sites in key towns and cities around the UK, including Birmingham and Manchester, as well as airport outlets in Bristol, Edinburgh and Heathrow.

Its demise comes amid a shakeout in the dining market, which prompted celebrity chef Jamie Oliver to close all but three of his 25 UK restaurants, including almost the entire Jamie’s Italian chain, earlier this week.

Eat was put up for sale by its private equity owners, Horizon Capital, in February. It made a £17.3m loss in the 12 months to June 2018 when sales slipped more than 4% to £94.9m.