The name says it all, Pret A Manger...Ready to Eat. They specialize in premade food, ready to pick up and take with you or for dining in. At lunch you have your choice of a multitude of sandwiches and soups. My favorites are the chicken and bacon, and the California club. The club includes avocado and pesto, a great combination in addition to the turkey breast. The soups have included chicken noodle, shrimp gumbo, broccoli and cheddar, kale and sausage, and a macaroni and cheese with sausage.
What I also like is that sandwiches are offered in both full and half sizes. This allows you to mix and match if desired, to sample different items.
The breakfast options are also winners. The croissant with fresh mozzarella and tomatoes tastes like a cross between a Caprese salad and a tomato tart. The bacon, egg, and cheese croissant is even better. Normally the best part of that is the bacon, followed by the egg and the cheese. But in this case the croissant would be delicious by itself. For those eating healthy, they also offer two kinds of oatmeal...steel cut and a whole grain. There is also fresh fruit available as well. Calorie counts are also provided for all of the food. For those not interested in calories, they serve warm cookies at lunch and chocolate chunk is the way to go. Or pastries at breakfast.
The space is on the small side, with only a few tables available to dine in. But you can't go wrong making this part of your regular lunch rotation.
There's two different "work-styles" at working Pret. There is the back of house, which is everything kitchen related. Then there's the Front of House, working with customers and registers. I have experienced both, as for BOH (Back of House) its very fast paced and team oriented. You will be timed for the items you are required to make. This is to ensure kitchen efficiency which is very important because all of our food is fresh and the customers need all selection available to them. Standards are strictly followed, for example every 20 minutes a bell will ring which will require everyone to stop what they are doing and begin there 'kitchen duties'. Such as cleaning the sink, replacing garbage, sanitizing door handles, and sweeping. Washing your hands is also a must every 20 minutes, and can't forget you are still required to finish your list of items on time. So yea there is a lot of pressure working in the kitchen, however once you're trained and have a organized system its pretty smooth. As for FOH (Front of House) you"ll be helping out customers,cleaning, and also playing games with customers where you give out free drinks if they win which is always fun. Along with preparing drinks, being on register, and making sure its a warm environment for everyone. Both employees and customers. Organization, team work, and clear communication is key at Pret A Manger.
ProsFree food and unlimited hot drinks ( Lattes, hot chocolates, etc.)
Pret A Manger is a fast-paced, high standard sandwich shop and cafe. It has its good days, it has its bad days. The work will be easy to you, if you are a hard worker, good with your hands, and have a good memory. As a trainer, my normal day to day would be making sandwiches and salads, making sure the kitchen staff is staying productive & efficient, ensure health and safety standards, and make sure all employees stay up to date with new training. The CEO, as well as the vice president, district managers, etc, would casually make pop ups to see how the shop is being ran, and ensure standards are upheld. They are very friendly, but they don't play games about their business. However there were some general managers and assistant managers who abused their authority. Watch what you say and who you say it around. Not everyone has your back. Company parties and "Top Shop" awards are really good incentives used to make sure that every location performs at its very best. Makes the "competitive spirit" between shops higher. There's nothing like a little friendly competition! Depending on location and staff, Pret A Manger can be a really awesome job
ProsFree lunch, fun staff, company parties/incentives
ConsHierarchy, very strict on appearance(piercings, false nails, eyelashes)
Terrible place to work, one of the worst jobs ever!
This job was one of the worst working experiences I've ever had. The management was horrendous, honestly I don't care about the workload(it's a job, so you are expected to work hard) but there were times were I felt like I was a slave, the manager would scream at me like I was a dog to make the items faster.
One of the things that I absolutely hated about working at pret, was the fact that management wanted you to act like you were were having fun and smile at all times. Obviously you want to treat the costumers great by smiling but they don't know what happens in the back and how much stress you have to go through to get all the stuff done in TIME.
There's also no job security because you could get fired for the tiniest thing. No sick days, no flexibility whatsoever, you need to dedicate yourself to pret 110%. The manager was always putting me down making me feel like I wasn't giving my best and threatened to fire me if i didn't make X amount of item per hour.
Finally, to whoever is reading this and is considering to work or apply to this company, PLEASE don't do it
ProsGreat co-workers, lunch discount, incentives to keep working hard
ConsShort breaks, horrible management, extreme rules and regulations, lots of stress, underpaid and much more too many negatives
It's a pleasure to work with you. but you have a lot to do at the employee level. the heart of a business is the employees and the customers. so if the relationships between these two or between them are not good. everything else cannot work. this company has a good organization and structure that any person can evolve but the team system does not exist, the employees are divided because of racism (difference in color, appearance tribal or origin). hypocrisy also exists within this company. people make you feel like you love and you accept that you don't. something else there is a poor flow of information from the manager to the employees (duplicate or incorrect information or orders). know-how and good manners do not exist, merit and competence do not count. we do not evolve because we deserve or because we are old but rather because we have affinities with the manager or such. this is the bad experience I have had with your company since I started working. yet the United States is a great power, a country of law, freedom, equality and opportunity. in societies we tend to see the opposite.
Prosflexible hours, health insurance, diversified activities
Consracism, non-consideration of employees, criteria for qualifications and skills not allowed.
I was initially hired full time (30 hours a week) and full time employees get benefits. They give me just under 30 hours so that I will not be able to receive benefits despite me asking multiple times to pick up other shifts. Managers are rude. the GM of my store forgot to change my schedule my first week of working there when I gave them a 3 days notice that I couldn't come in one day. Manager forgot to take it off my schedule so I got reprimanded for calling out months later, stating that I need to give them a weeks notice, yet at that point I hadn't even been working there a week and I did give them prior notice. GM has also laughed at me for trying to do my job and the store manager yells at me if I try to help out the hot chef by putting out croissants. The only good thing about working there is the free lunch and one time my team leader charged me for lunch after I had just worked a 6 hour shift. I've spoken to 2 other coworkers who told me they started looking for another job a week into working there. Maybe other locations are better but I do not recommend this pret.
fun and learned a lot about retail store management
Well about my work experience I want to say very much. But first I would say that my first work experience was fantastic and I loved my job. I started my working experience in pret a manger as an a assistant manger. My job timings used to start from 7am. and ended at 6 p.m. in the evening
The experience of working as manager was a real life experience, because I used to meet different people of different nature and handling them was a life time experience , managing stress environment and showing complete positive attitude and performance. During all the period of my job I learned how to manage the customers in efficient way and also how different people are handled.
All the staff members were really co operative and maintained a friendly environment. The experience and support really evoked the professional side in me and I think that this experience of my life would always be helpful in my life.
I would say that I really learned a lot from my job experience and I loved the duration of my job.
The second you are ready to work, is the second they put you to work. You learn a lot as you go, it's all about the experience. There's much to learn and always room for growth. Potential is limitless. There's a lot of times where you want to scream and pull your hair out of your head, but when you finish the work in such a fast time, you forget all about that stress. The hardest thing is time. You have to accomplish drinks, and make sure there's always selection on food and coffee, and as a Barista, you have to make customer drinks within a minute. It was tough. Always busy. The most enjoyable thing is accomplishing what was thought as a difficult task, and being able to master that over and over again. There's just a lot of work to be put in, but to be honest, it wasn't the pay I think I deserved. I truly felt like there was some unbalance with that aspect. You get to meet friendly people and co workers are always fun to work with.
ProsFree Lunch, always friendly environment with new people to meet every day
ConsVery redundant and unfair work for certain people for such little pay
A typical day at Pret would be coming in very early to open up the store. Most of my day was kept busy by serving a lot of drinks. I learned how to have sense of urgency and serve drinks in a minute. I had one great manager there that kept us all on our toes and genuinely cared about us and the business. Unfortunately, he left and we got stuck with a manager who didn't care at all and had no knowledge about the business. Because of this new manager the store's business went down and the employees were constantly arguing and doing what they wanted. It became a negative environment for me which is why i left. the place's culture brought a lot of business customers due to the fact that we were stationed in an area very busy. Hardest part was leaving because i really loved that place when our old manager used to work there. Making drinks was my favorite part. Everyday i would challenge myself how fast i can make a drink in time to satisfy Pret's standards and the customer's needs.
The manager at my store hasn't got the faintest idea of how to run a shop, so much so, that an untrained monkey could do a better job.
Some of the overseas workers are extremely rude and have a very poor grasp of english, making it incredibly hard to communicate with them sometimes.
The customers are incredibly snobby and treat ALL staff like dirt.
The manager shows very little enthusiasm to even do their job even remotely well, and has been the main cause a many times for the loss of the mystery shopper bonus.
The manager constantly moves around shifts and will leave some people working for a solid month without a day off.
The manager has moved shifts around so they can take multiple days off at a time whilst everyone else gets very few days off.
I have been made to drop commitments and hobbies because of manager, due to them threatening to 'Sack' myself and other workers.
ProsFree Lunch ONLY IF YOU WORK MORE THAN 6 HOURS
ConsEverything, this is a terrible company to work for.
Worked in this company for a year.Typical day at work would be clearing tables,working on tills,coffee machine,making hot and cold food.This company promises you pay above minimum wage,but they will slave your for every extra penny,that they pay you.Manager constantly cutting hours,to get their bonus(managers only).So we are always understaffed.They have high standards to ask you to smile constantly and have everything perfect at all times,but by cutting hours some staff are forced to work for 3 people or so fast,that you are literally catching your breath and running a marathon from the minute you start to shift to the end of it.Constantly being dehydrated at work,because you are not allowed to keep your water bottle while working(often felt thirsty and having headaches).Sometimes didn't even have time to go to bathroom properly.And I have been used to hard work in busy places my whole life as I worked in fast paced food industry for more than 10 years.They have mystery shopper bonus,but lately it was also a fail as they will ask you allergen related question and you have to direct them to Team leader or manager so technically they will take over and you loose your chance for outstanding service bonus,which you can get if your service is excellent(100£ or 200£).The best part of this place was my colleagues,that I worked with.When I started,some of them were so experienced and working many years-I learned a lot from them.But through this one year at least 8 long term staff ha
With previous barista/ management experience I was excited to start work at Pret. I had interview and trial shift and then was offered barista job. While on the job I understood that certain management have their favourites giving them favours and allowing them to work less then others.
If you had any problem with work or coworker, managers encouraged you not to speak out, but if you complained they do nothing. They like to sweep thing under the carpet. If you complain to head office, they will promise you support, but really do nothing about it.
Pay, they pay above minimum wage but not allowing you to accept tips. They promise you bonus which is good in quieter shops, but If you work in busy place like station, you always loose the bonus as it’s too busy to keep shop clean and immaculate at all times. So you better of working In quieter Pret, because you work less and get paid more.
The job itself very busy and energy consuming. You make coffee non stop, and their coffee calling system is more stressful than effective. They ask you to remember 10 drinks at the time. After few months of bashing out the drinks non stop I have developed triggered finger. It took five months for my finger to heal after leaving this job, but in some cases it requires a surgery to get triggered finger back to normal according to NHS. They ask baristas to be very outgoing and entertaining, to create the buzz. So if you have a quieter more introverted personality you might struggle, as you are re
I worked in London staring 2017 and finished just when the pandemic started so I will just rate that perioud. I don't know how the company is now.
People who came and worked seamed to be either extremely strict, or care-free people who don't have any sense of what cleaneness means, (or customer service).
One rude customer would make up for 100 nice ones.
The most ridiculuos thing was that you had so many things to do and standards, wash your hands every half an hour(in the kitchen) while still at the same time to have more than 90% productivity. All the while the manager would randomly come and ask for a product which wasn't yet ready and you had to stop what you were doing and do just one for a customer who didn't want to wait. So put everything away, clean everything, collect ingredients and do just a few. That whould affect your productivity but who cared.
Some kitchen leaders would work side by side with the team memebers while others would not even clean or perform more difficult tasks and they got away with it because the manager liked them.
There was litlle honesty most of the times .
The number of standards and things to do were too high for the pay they offered. I liked that I would never sit still and always had something to do but it is not a job to have if you don't like advancing by making friends with the managers and telling them everything that moves in the shop.
Some would advance based on merit of course but then would have to treat the people under them
I've worked with Pret on and off for about a year, in 4 different stores all in different environments. I enjoyed the buzz within stores, the sounds, smells and great atmosphere for customers. I liked the fact that Pret take so much pride in the quality of their products, it's how they achieve this that I disagree with.
I found that the management, especially team leaders, were highly critical and didn't understand the concept of re-training if you made a mistake; instead of explaining what went wrong and how to do something a different/better way, they would stop you and completely go over everything, but would be so condescending doing it that you wouldn't take on board what they had said, and would often punish you, whether it was to take away your bonus or make you spend more time doing mediocre "training" on an iPad.
The culture within the company speaks of growth and personal development, but all they seem to do is try to create robots that operate at 100mph and have no personality.
I've seen a TMT (trainer) shouted at because he hadn't turned the kitchen radio on (it was broken), I've been shouted at because I wasn't fast enough on coffee, all because after 5 years of being a barista in other chains, and independents, I refuse to re heat milk as it is disgusting and burns it. Apparently a few seconds to empty a jug or periodically rinse it is illegal and I deserve to be shouted at. The team leader that time then threw a tantrum and started cleaning every jug s
ProsFree food, staff benefits, parties, potential for a bonus
This job can annihilate every piece of humanity inside of you.
You start work at 4:30 in the morning when its dark and you finish at 16:30 when its dark again in the winter and you spend your whole day in the kitchen without windows where its very very cold, 4-5 degree and you are required to wear the short sleeved uniform because they are always under staffed and you might have to run on till at any point of the day. There is painfully loud music in the kitchen so that you dont talk with the others because this is slowing you down and you have a timer that beeps every so minutes and you have to race and assemble sandwiches as fast as you can which is like a game at first but it becomes very stressful with time and you are always late, always behind and if you somehow manage to finish for the time set the next day they give you more stuff to make in the same time. Its all about productivity. I spend 6 months racing all day and barely spoke 3-5 words a day on my shifts if I'm not on till where you are required to have the widest fake smile on earth, highly pitched voice and again be as fast as possible, its all a race. Everywhere its very noisy and very busy and you are always behind and the stress builds up so much that me and many of my colleagues had to take pills for sleep because you hear the noise in your head when you get home after work and we had this random mental break downs where you are crying on your lunch break without any real reason, its just tears coming out of your eyes and you cant stop. The giant corporation is making
ProsFree food. As many extra hours as you want.
ConsYou will loose everything that makes you human.
Un día en pret a manger según el horario de trabajo tu día cambiaba mucho; Si trabajabas por la mañana entrabas entorno a las 7 , pero no era hasta las 8 cuando realmente empezabas a trabajar ya que a partir de las 8 empezaban los desayunos, lo que incluía grandes colas de clientes que venían justos de tiempo a por su café, lo que implicaba cierta agilidad y coordinación entre el barista y los cajeros, ya que, ademas de ordenar los cafés, y en ocasiones hacerlos, tenias que cobrar en un tiempo máximo de un minuto y recordar en ocasiones, hasta una lista de 20 personas con sus respectivos cafes, ya que no podías detener la cola mientras, el barista los preparaba. Después tenias dos horas tranquilas en las que ayudabas en la cocina, organizabas los dispensadores y limpiabas las mesas. A las 12 aproximadamente que comenzaba la comida, donde durante unas dos horas las colas no bajaban de 50 personas, con las cuales debias seguir cumpliendo el requisito de un minuto por cliente, sin renunciar al buen trato.
Una vez pasada la comida tocaba cerrar la cocina, que consistía en dejar todo preparado para el dia siguiente, ingredientes pesados, mesas colocadas, ordenar la nevera y limpiarla. También hacíamos deliverys, que consistía en llevar o traer bocadillos a otras tiendas cercanas del pret ,ya que hasta la hora del cierre debías tener un mínimo de bocadillos que dependiendo del dia superabas con creces o te quedabas muy corto.
A las 8 cerrábamos la puerta y empezábamos a limpi
Prosvaloraban mucho el trabajo de cada uno, y el ambiente era muy comodo para trabajar
ConsEn ocasiones los horarios eran excesivos
1.0
Communications Consultant | Victoria | Jan 5, 2020
Very B*tchy team in the customer services team
I came across some homophobic bullies within the customer services team. The company doesn't support their employees and think that it is okay for their employees to belittle, bully and intimidate team members as well as ostracise them from the entire team.
Upon trying to put in a grievance after months of being bullied and having documented it all, they disregarded this and implemented a 'mediation meeting' where we were unable to discuss what had even been said and done to me. The day of when the meeting was meant to be happening I was informed it wouldn't be happening because the other party who I put the grievance in about didn't want to do it and no further action was taken.
Following that the team continued to bully me until I had no other choice but to leave for my own mentality and sanity after I was threatened by my line manager that I was having a formal meeting the following day which 'could result in a dismissal' purely because I wasn't 'fitting in' with the team and I was still in my 6 months probation. I had no other choice but to quit and after they had tore me apart about every aspect of me as a human being.
Oh and they think that the death of the young girl and a mother of 5 who passed away in her bathtub, due to their incorrectly labelled coconut yoghurt which didn't state all of the ingredients in, was a laughable matter. I've never come across such a large group of narcissists in my life, they did a great job in seeking them out.
I will, how
Ambiente de trabajo divertido y dinámico, con bebida, comida y café gratis. Muy buena retribución desde cuando empiezas.
Me levantaba a las 3:00 para coger el bus y estar en el trabajo a las 5:00. empezaba calentado toda las maquinas y controlando la entrega( en caso de que faltara algo me ponía en contacto con otras tiendas de la cadena para obtener mis productos). cocinaba una primera tanda de productos para la selección en la tienda y el pan para la cocina. Después de una pequeña pausa, hasta la 10:30 mis encargo principal era mantener mi selección, cocinando los productos paso por paso manteniendo la frescura del producto de máximo 2 horas.
Desde la 10:30 a la 11:00 pasaba da los productos de la desayuno a los productos del almuerzo( desayuno: 4 variedades de bollería dulce, 3 salados,2 variedades de galletas 3 bollitos con huevo y/o bacon, porridge con 2 salsas a parte; Almuerzo: 4 variedades de bollería dulce, 3 salados,2 variedades de galletas, 3 variedades de sopas con pan a parte, 3 variedades de wrap) después una pausa de media hora hasta la 12:30( fin de mi turno) hacia una preparación para la comida con mi compañero que se encargaba de mi posición.
Aprendí a organizar todo mi trabajo, hacer un plan para reducir los gastos al mínimo contando en una vida del producto de 2 horas. la parte mas difícil del trabajo era mantener una selección para todo el tiempo sin tener gastos y siguiendo los estándares muy estrictos que la tienda exige.
La parte mas divertida era bromear con mis colegas, escuchar música, una buena paga por hora y además conocer personas de todo las partes
Pret works as a temporary job when you need money fast. But virtually everyone where I worked complains that they want to leave. I myself had moved to "part-time" - which is basically a honest full-time and not modern day slavery. At first they are nice but then the workload increases, life/work balance I would say is non-existent. Managers are almost blind to their employees' needs and would do anything to increase profit, team is consistently understaffed and still you are told you don't work fast enough.
Most of the managers are also passive aggressive and just generally neurotic and stressed and have a go at you for every small detail. I've met some really lovely people, don't get me wrong, but most of the managers are as previously described, and the general atmosphere in the workplace is not a good one. At Pret it is normal to work 11 days in a row, with only one day off to then start all over again.
If you work in the kitchen you are expected to comply to the standards and get complaints if you don't do a good job when you've had very little sleep and have too much to do. I've seen members being assigned two positions at once for lack of staff. For the three months that I was there, it almost ruined my physical and mental health. I dreaded going to work. The pay is fairly good but it is not worth it considering the huge amount of stress and workload, and the long hours.
It is disheartening that such a successful and profitable coffee chain would put so little
ProsFree food & free coffee, met some nice people
ConsDisorganized shifts, horrendous work/life balance, stressful, not worth ruining your health for
Free clean and neat uniforms, food and drinks, for you everyday.
Flexibility to settle down your time, shift and location at the interview.
Payrate is better than any other food/coffee shop chain, possibility to get promotions quickly if you work hard, also the pay is weekly, which is good if you need to catch up with your expenses.
The job can be in some shops busy over any expectations, so be ready to roll up your sleeves and work really hard in some times of the day.
Most of the staff is just arrived to London, so be ready to share their emotions and find a lot of interesting people.
They try for good means to keep all together happy, so you got parties, team drinks and stuff.
It is a customer service with a fun-based culture, so whichever is your mental state, you have to be happy and smile.
Quite unhappy about the mystery shopper whole thing, you lose your bonus most of the time and it's not your fault, even if you did a perfect service and that is not encouraging you to do better.
You can find the good manager that is adult, understanding and conscious to have a nice time through your shifts and duties, but you can also suddendly be under the powerkid that is mainly rude, ignorant and frustrated, unable to control the situation, setting up your rota to damage your personal life just for fun, or shouting at you in front of the others, bringing you quickly at the point that you're forced to leave the company or ask a transfer to another shop.
I really like
ProsFree lunches, uniform, very good HR management, weekly payments
ConsPowerkid rude lower management, overpressure on work, mystery shopper random
Questions And Answers about Pret A Manger
What tips or advice would you give to someone interviewing at Pret A Manger?
Asked Aug 7, 2016
Do a research about them & be honest
Answered Jun 1, 2019
-Be yourself and be honest, and also please be professional as soon as walk you walk in the door. They are observant; if you're rude to the person at front desk or even over the phone, chances are they'll think you'll be rude to customers and your potential team.
-Listen to the questions first, take it in, and then answer.
Answered Mar 22, 2019
What do they ask you on the interview?
Asked Sep 5, 2016
Availability, commute, and previous experience relevance as mentioned on resume
Answered Jun 28, 2019
50 quiz then 100 quiz now on iPads. But they cheat and are given answers as they need workers. No real training and bullied into signing training records without training.
Answered May 4, 2019
Do they drug test
Asked Apr 30, 2017
NO, they do not drug test.
Answered Aug 30, 2017
As of 07/28/17 no.
Answered Jul 28, 2017
Do they rehire
Asked Feb 13, 2017
Yes. Just wait 6 months to re-apply.
Answered Aug 30, 2017
Yes they do rehire
Answered Jul 3, 2017
How long does it take to become a general manager from a trainee? What are the most sought after qualities in a manger?
