Pret A Manger; UK based sandwich chain now in BKC
UK-based coffee and sandwich business Pret A Manger has become the new high-profile Western brand to release in the Indian market.
The company opened its first store in India’s financial centre Mumbai on Friday.
The same week, US technology firm Apple released its first two shops nationwide. Pret told last year it was uniting with a unit of Reliance Industries, owned by India’s wealthiest man Mukesh Ambani.
Pret’s chief executive Pano Christou said its national offering would reflect its trademark “while also adapting to local tastes and food traditions”.
It keeps the first experience by Reliance Brands, which even owns India’s largest retail chain, into the nation’s thriving food and drinks industry. Reliance said its first store is a recreation of Pret’s UK stores. The outlets will be sought at “the new Indian consumer”, Darshan Mehta, the managing director of Reliance Brands, stated.
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The release came only days after Apple CEO Tim Cook opened the iPhone maker’s first retail shop in India. The store opening in the financial hub of Mumbai on Tuesday was followed by a second store in the capital Delhi on Thursday.
Pret A Manger, which implies “ready to eat” in French, was established in London in 1983, with the first store opening the following year.
After the original firm went into liquidation, the brand was bought by college buddies Sinclair Beecham and Julian Metcalfe, with their first shop opening in 1986.
