Just two sites, both located in the capital in Soho and Shoreditch, will continue to trade under the Veggie Pret brand, which first launched in the summer of 2016 and at its height grew to 10 sites that were almost entirely concentrated in London.
A further two Veggie Prets, in Exmouth Market and Manchester's Deansgate, are currently being monitored for customer demand with the expectation that they will be converted into regular Pret stores in the near future. One Veggie Pret site, in Canary Wharf, has already made the transition.
In a statement released to BigHospitality, a Pret spokesperson said: “Veggie Pret was launched in 2016 with the ambition of offering our customers more delicious, freshly prepared vegetarian options. Now it serves as an innovation hub, fundamental to Pret’s core offer – over half of our menu is vegetarian or vegan, with meat-free and vegan options accounting for one in three of our main meals sales.
“Our focus now is to keep growing our extensive vegetarian and vegan offer in every Pret shop, so we’ve decided to convert or close some of our current Veggie Prets.
“More of our customers are choosing veggie options but may not see themselves as full time vegetarians, so all of our shops will continue to offer a majority meat-free and vegan menu and our remaining Veggie Prets will continue to develop new vegan and vegetarian options to be rolled out to our classic Prets.”
As first reported by The Telegraph, four London-based Veggie Pret sites have closed, located in Cardinal Place, St Marys Axe, Fenchurch Street, and King William Street.
All employees at the four closed shops have been relocated to other nearby Pret stores.