Chakalaka and cheddar: Pret a Manger opens first SA stores

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JEREMY MAGGS: South Africans are about to experience the world-famous Pret a Manger, as the British food and coffee brand makes its entrance into the country. The first two stores will open this year at Melrose Arch and The Zone in Rosebank, bringing freshly made food and organic coffee to local customers. The Melrose Arch outlet opens on 14 February, Valentine’s Day.

Pret a Manger has built a loyal following. It’s got over 650 stores in 18 countries, and now through a partnership with Johannesburg-based Millat Group, the brand is ready to introduce its signature fresh meals and beverages to this market.

With me now is the chief executive, Pano Christou, welcome, thank you very much for joining us. I don’t need to tell you that South Africa’s food and coffee market is super competitive. A great brand to enter the country, but the critics might say it’s a bit late.

PANO CHRISTOU: Yeah, I think the food scene in South Africa is fantastic. I think that with such a vibrant young population, the Pret brand has a great opportunity to [inaudible] in regards to high quality fresh food and also the culture that we have.

I think that, my view is it’s never too late to come in and enter a market.

But I think what’s really important is having a clear USP [unique selling proposition] as a brand. So I think for us, we have fresh, high quality food.

Our coffee is 100% organic, 100% Arabica beans and 100% quality focus. So I think that South Africans really know and understand good quality food and our sense is once they taste the Pret offer, they’ll see that too.

JEREMY MAGGS: Pano, Pret, the world over is well known for its ethical food sourcing. How is this going to work in the South African market, particularly in working with local suppliers?

PANO CHRISTOU: Well, I think local sourcing for a fresh produce supply chain, which we have, is so important. I think that the more we can source locally, the better we stand, I think, in fresh, high-quality produce.

I think the great thing about South Africa, you have lots of great suppliers, a very advanced, mature, fresh produce supply chain. So that has worked really well with us curating a menu with, I would say our highest percentage of local sourcing ever in a new market entry.

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JEREMY MAGGS: I don’t need to tell you, and you know about this a lot better than I do, that any restaurant or chain outlet lives or dies by its menu. It’s got to make sure that it is catering effectively to local pallets. Just as far as what you’re introducing, will there be a locally inspired menu to cater to those tastes or are you going to stick to the classic international offerings that are fairly well known, particularly to people who have travelled?

PANO CHRISTOU: Well, I think the single most important thing when we come into a new country is being very thoughtful around the local consumers, the flavour and taste palette of the consumers.

I think we’ve done that with South Africa as well. We have a local South African chef, who we’ve been working with to curate a menu that is set to connect with South Africans.

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As an example, we’ll have lots of chakalaka in the flavour profiles of some of our products. So you’ll have some global classics like the classic cheddar and pickle that you will see in Pret all across the world, but the localisation of the menu is something that is very important.

JEREMY MAGGS: And come on, Pano, just between the two of us, I’m sure you’ve sampled chakalaka. Do you like it?

PANO CHRISTOU: I love it.

JEREMY MAGGS: [Chuckle]

PANO CHRISTOU:  I really do, and I think what you’ll see in a number of our products on the South Africa menu that the spice profile is probably a little bit higher than in our European market.

I personally do enjoy spicy foods.

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So I think from that perspective we’ve spent a lot of time thinking through and getting feedback as well from local South Africans on the menu before we connect with our customers more broadly. So yes, I’m a big fan of chakalaka.

JEREMY MAGGS: I look forward to travelling to the UK at some point and seeing chakalaka in Pret a Manger there, but that’s a different conversation, Pano. Food is one thing, but service is the other.

Pret is well known for its efficient and fast service. Your challenge is to make sure that the brand gives that same level of efficiency in South Africa.

PANO CHRISTOU: Yeah, as you said, the service and experience that we give to our customers is alongside great tasty food. Those two areas in particular are of high importance to us.

Actually, that comes from ensuring that you’ve got a great team and that they buy into our philosophy and our culture. Actually, the partner buys into our philosophy and our culture, which I think with the Millat Group they tick all of those boxes.

So ensuring that we have people who have a passion and affinity for the brand and really enjoy hospitality and connecting with customers.

So I think a combination of great engaging service, efficient service, but not efficient to the detriment of great experiences, accompanied with fresh, great produce.

JEREMY MAGGS: And Pano, the third leg of that triangle, I guess, is affordability. We have a fluctuating economy in South Africa. For many people, affordability is the key determinant. So where is Pret a Manger going to position itself in terms of pricing?

PANO CHRISTOU: I think I would go one step further than affordability. For me, it’s value for money and ensuring that the consumers feel that when they purchase something at Pret, it’s value for the quality that they’re getting. I think that we have looked at the competition to ensure that we are competitive from a price perspective.

Understand that value for money is very important here, which I think we are seeing even more and more so across the world than ever with the macro challenges across the world.

But I think ensuring that that value equation is a combination of great service, a great price point for high quality food, a great experience when the customer walks in, and the combination of those should give a sense of great value for money.

JEREMY MAGGS: And just a final one, the first two stores, as I mentioned at the start of our conversation, are launching at Melrose Arch and also The Zone in Rosebank. I’m assuming that there would be plans to expand into other cities and if so, which locations are next?

PANO CHRISTOU: Well, there is a plan to open a number of other locations in Johannesburg this year, so hopefully looking to open about five locations.

But I think the next obvious place after Johannesburg is Cape Town. So again, with the size of population, percent of young people, young people and the Pret brand connect really well.

I think we are seeing our fastest growing segment are the 18 to 34-year-olds. I think that puts us in a great position, and I think we see a huge opportunity to grow and scale the brand up. But doing it in a way that is sympathetic to doing it in a way of good quality when we execute.

I think sometimes brands can grow so fast that they drop the ball when it comes to quality and execution. So we want that healthy tension of growing a brand out, at the same time, not doing it to the detriment of what we’re trying to offer our customers.

JEREMY MAGGS: Well, I’m going to leave you to your chakalaka and say thank you for talking to me. Pano Christou, who’s the chief executive officer of Pret a Manger. It’s opening in Johannesburg, the first store at Melrose Arch on 14 February. Pano, thank you very much indeed.

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