Gen Zers couldn’t believe their eyes when they woke up this morning to an email from Pret A Manger announcing that their £30-a-month club contract was coming to an end.
The cafe chain, which has been in business for the past four years, today told customers it was ‘time to rethink’ how its subscription works.
Young people took to video-sharing app TikTok to share their devastation, with some calling it “the most disturbing thing ever” and lamenting “basically the whole world is ending”.
The current offer offers subscribers any barista-made hot or iced drink up to five times a day for £30 a month.
But this will be fixed in September for what Pret describes as a “simpler offer” of five half-price drinks a day for £10 a month. There was also a 20 percent discount on the rest of the food and drink menu.
Some Gen Zers are now threatening to cancel their subscriptions or boycott the chain.
London blogger Nairn said on TikTok: “Pret A Manger is dead.”
He added: “I don’t know how they think people will stay loyal to them after this. This subscription was the backbone of most Generation Z and Millennials, especially in the big working cities of London.
“Coffee has become so expensive and this was an easy way, you pay £30 a month and you’re done.”
Another TikToker, Brunch in the Sun, shared a video of her looking sad over the news with the caption: ‘POV you just got an email about the Pret Subscription changes so now the world is basically ending’.
Meanwhile, TikToker Marie shared a video featuring the text ‘what can I do’ with the caption: ‘life since getting that one email from Pret A Manger’.
Subscribers will now pay £205 a month for a £3.90 latte if they take up the offer and get the full amount five times a week, compared to the £30 they pay now.
Club Pret was first introduced in autumn 2020 for £20 a month in a bid to get more people back into the office after the coronavirus lockdown.
The meal discount will also be scrapped as it was “something we’ve never really come across”, said Pret’s UK chief executive Clare Clough.
“We know it’s a change. But with a Club Pret subscription, our coffees, teas, coolers and iced drinks will continue to be the best deal on the high street and at a much more affordable price than the £360 a year people have to pay for the current system,” the report read.
The new offer will be priced at £5 per month for existing and new Club Pret subscribers until 31 March 2025, when the price will double.
Ms Clough added that “as the majority of our customers are not Club Pret subscribers, our priority now is to focus on better value for everyone”.
The news further enraged Club Pret members, who were already angered by the coffee company’s crackdown on people sharing their QR codes with friends to get the deal.
One customer said “all Londoners are united in grief at the announcement”, while others have already canceled their subscriptions.
One person posted a screenshot of an email from Pret saying “sorry you’re leaving” after they canceled their Club Pret membership.
‘Lol at the new subscription @Pret. “commitment to better value” when my savings dropped from £90 a month to £47 including food. Math doesn’t count girl.
“Cya,” they wrote.
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Another called the subscription changes “ridiculous” as “what started out good gradually got more expensive”.
‘Subscriptions range from £15 to £20 to £30. Food prices in stores go up weeks before the 20% discount is introduced, so in reality there are no real savings. And now this,” they said.
Pret was warned it was making a “huge mistake” by another customer, who told the chain it still had time to “fix it”.
“Otherwise I am canceling my subscription and will never step foot in any of your stores (which will close in quick succession starting in September),” they warned.
Last September, Pret customers were left confused by the £7.15 price tag for a baguette at one of its stores.
Customers reacted with dismay on social media after a tempting ‘dine in’ price was ripped off for a ‘posh’ cheese and gherkin sandwich at a London Underground branch.
A bagel costs £5.95 at hub stations to take away – and when you combine it with a £1.75 bag of crisps and a £5 green smoothie for a fully rounded lunch, it costs £12.70.
If you want to eat it in store, the chain will then slap £1.20 VAT on the sandwich, bringing the price to £7.15 and the total to £13.90.