The Notebook: Victoria Scholar on why it’s not all doom and gloom for the economy March 8, 2023 The Notebook is where interesting people say interesting things. Today, it’s Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor, on why it’s not the time to be gloomy about the UK’s prospects, the battle for your coffee pound and a new podcast. You wouldn’t be blamed for thinking that the UK economy is in a [...]
Costa Coffee hikes staff pay as cost of living crisis prompts chain to raise wages for third time in 12 months March 6, 2023 Costa Coffee became the latest coffee chain to give its staff a pay rise, as employers seek to retain employees who are battling a cost of living crisis. Beginning in April, some 16,000 baristas at the high street coffee chain will see wages increase from £10 per hour to £10.70 per hour. The rise is [...]
A bigger bite: Pret hikes team member salaries as commuter coffee favourite vows to invest in workforce March 2, 2023 Pret a Manger will increase the salaries of its workers from the start of next month to avoid falling foul of minimum wage laws, which change on April 1. Sandwich chain Pret said that it would hike pay for its worst-paid staff by 2.9 per cent, from £10.30 an hour to £10.60 an hour. It ensures [...]
Meatless Farm wants to drive down prices to win cash-strapped customers February 27, 2023 Morten Toft Bech, the Dutch founder of plant-based company Meatless Farm, launched his company in an effort to save the planet. “Animal protein is unsustainable,” claims Bech, comparing it to driving an old car full of polluting fuel. The public has been made aware of this argument for years, with numerous documentaries warning about how [...]
The Lord Mayor’s Appeal and The Pret Foundation to Host The Lady Mayoress’s Sleep Out February 6, 2023 The Lord Mayor’s Appeal and Pret A Manger’s charity, The Pret Foundation, whose focus is to help alleviate hunger, poverty and homelessness, will join forces with Lady Mayoress Felicity Lyons and Lord Mayor Alderman Nicholas Lyons this March for the second annual Lady Mayoress’s Sleep Out. Taking place at Guildhall Yard overnight on Thursday 16 [...]
Why We’re Just Normal Men is the best comedy account on Twitter January 30, 2023 It has taken me almost a year to come across the best comedy account left on Twitter. While the glory days of conceptual Twitter comedy appear to have passed, sometimes an account appears on your radar that still has the ability to floor you. We’re Just Normal Men is one of those accounts. Classics accounts [...]
Pret launches a value sandwich meal deal, but what can you get and for how much? January 5, 2023 A sandwich for under £3 and a baguette deal for a fiver are part of Pret A Manger’s new value range meal deal announced today. With the cost of living crisis continuing to bite into millions of Brits’ earnings and savings, high-street favourite Pret is now offering food deals to make lunch cheaper. The new [...]
The Meal Deal Inflation Index: Tesco, Greggs, Boots and more January 5, 2023 Times are hard – with a cost of living crisis, inflation, and seemingly constant grey skies. Add strikes to the mix and it’s almost too much to get out of bed. But there is worse than even that – the hardy meal deal, the friend of the cost-conscious Londoners, is no longer quite the value [...]
Pret A Manger invests £10m in staff pay bringing salaries above inflation October 11, 2022 Pret A Manger will invest £10m to support its staff with the cost of living crisis, bringing pay above inflation. The outlet will give its workers a salary boost from 1 December to the tune of five per cent. This comes after the coffee chain invested £9.2m in April this year, with 6,500 of its [...]
Office attendance continues to climb – and it helps if you’ve got a Pret nearby July 25, 2022 Office attendance is up by a third compared to January, new data from workplace provider IWG shows. The group also said its data contained evidence that having a branch of Pret a Manger nearby might boost attendance at work. The group said that there had been major hikes in visits to its office and co-working [...]