Pret opened in London in 1986. College friends, Sinclair and Julian, made proper sandwiches using natural, preservative-free ingredients. The two of them had woefully little experience in the world of business. They created the sort of food they craved but couldn’t find anywhere else.

Because Pret is private we don’t face the same pressure to grow that a public company does. We will develop slowly, one shop at a time. There are about 225 Pret shops at the moment. Most of them are in the UK. We turn over roughly 200 million pounds a year and would like to make 9% profit but haven’t yet. One day we will.

In addition to the original (and unique) Pret take-away concept, there is our new Pret delivery service and Local Pret to look forward to. We must go one step at a time, no rush.