The first Pod will open within the next two months at Birmingham Palisades and will be used to determine whether there is the potential to open further units around the country in shopping centres and major transport hubs.

Simon Hargraves, commercial director at Pret A Manger, says: "It's our first toe in the water and we would like to open more but Birmingham will be a test site, so we'll see if it's right and if customers respond to it."

The benefits of the Pod are that it costs less than £70,000, compared with a full store fit-out at nearer £400,000, and is suitable for locations where the flow of traffic might not be sufficient to support a full-blown unit.

The Pods will offer an edited range of products with the sandwich selection freshly made throughout the day at the nearest Pret A Manger shop. Freshness is the key to the Pret offer and is what still differentiates it from its major rivals such as Eat and Marks & Spencer Simply Food.

It was this desire to give the consumer a fresh - and organic - sandwich that prompted friends Julian Metcalfe and Sinclair Beecham to borrow £17,000 and open their first outlet in central London in 1986. After a slow start, the company began to expand and now comprises 165 outlets in the UK and a growing chain in New York, as well as outlets in Hong Kong and Singapore. Needless to say, the offer has changed since the first shop opened, and sandwiches now account for less than 25 per cent of total sales, with other products such as sushi and soup now available.

The pace of store expansion has increased of late and 25 new units will be added in the UK this year.

Hargraves also believes that the imminent appointment of the group's first property director (Graham Wood from Virgin) is another sign that Pret is serious about its plans for growth. Wood will undoubtedly find himself working closely with the company's two existing 'property guys' (one for London and one for the regions) who deal with a variety of letting agents around the country.

Hargraves says the company is also moving steadily towards a flotation that will provide it with sufficient funding to realise its expansion plans, which look likely to include the group's first outlets in Boston and Washington in the US.

However, it is the UK that will remain the core of the business and shopping centres represent an important location for Pret outlets - as long as there is no stipulation that units have to locate in food courts.

"Although shopping centres are important to us there are restrictions in some of them, as they don't want to mix food with other retail. But we won't go into their food courts. You are not able to use your corporate colours and customers have to share seating, so you're not in control of your whole offer," says Hargraves.

Thankfully for Pret and its customers, the company has been able to secure sites in a number of high profile centres including Birmingham Bullring, Bluewater and Lakeside, and two months ago it opened a unit at Cheshire Oaks. More are planned, with a flagship branch due to open later this year at Southampton West Quay.

Expect to see more outlets appear as Pret spreads its still unique offer beyond the major metropolitan areas and out into the provinces. Such a move could easily be accelerated if the private equity firms currently linked to the Pret business have sufficient appetite to undertake a buyout of the company.

Statistics

pret a manger

Founded: 1986

Founders: Julian Metcalfe and Sinclair Beecham

Managing director: Clive Schlee

Number of UK stores: 165

Number of stores outside UK: 25

Average store size: 1,800 sq ft

Website: http://www.Pret.com

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