How 2 executives got away with 2 customer deaths and what lessons Pret has NOT learned!
Vegetarians and Vegans eat Meat in Pret
Mislabelling continues
Just when you think nothing more ridiculous can happen in Pret, this happens:
Link to Tweet from 27.11.2019 – I responded to SCLFT that the real @Pret killed two people in Britain! And side note: a baguette for $8!!! No wonder former CEO Clive Schlee pocketed £30 million on bonus alone! But he left a legacy behind, where low-wage staff speak out bluntly in anonymity on Glassdoor & Co.
UPDATE: 25.02.2020 UK
“Vegan” Bircher muesli containing milk.
And THIS happens: (I put the whole feed)
Link OOPS!!! Quickly get into DM to get out of the public eye! Too late!
And the gift that keeps on giving!
Ladies and Gentlemen,
welcome to the land of MILK & HONEY!
UPDATE: 10. Dec. 2019 – Pret USA again. And the usual response by the U.S. Twitter staff is very relaxed. People in the U.S. cannot DM Pret’s USA Twitter account. It’s like the U.S. side of Pret is cut off from the UK.
UPDATE: 20. December 2019 Pret USA AGAIN!
26. December 2019 Pret USA – Wrong Soup / Label … again
The issue of mislabelled products in Pret A Manger continues. It is 2019. Two customers have died, a third incidence was nearly fatal, and several in hospital from unlabelled allergen in Pret products, numerous customer warnings ignored before and even after deaths. Only after the deaths became public has Pret SLOWLY started to label products. But mislabelling products as well as placing products behind wrong labels continues.
Some customers who complain on Twitter assume that this is a one-off or rare problem…
NOTE:
A little reminder that Pret was cleared in New York in 2016 —>>> where a customer sued Pret after he suffered an allergic reaction ALSO to an unlabelled sesame product, the same allergen that Natasha Ednan-Laperouse died of from a London shop in 2016! Even though Pret won the case it did not give them any sense of urgency or a wake-up call to start labelling products! ONLY when customer deaths became public did Pret slowly implement labelling!
Also, Pret has now set aside £10 Million on legal fees for >>> food allergy scandal costs.
>>> Pret on trial after Celia Marsh’s death, who died from dairy traces in a non-dairy product.
UPDATE: November 2019
Vegan eats chicken 10th Nov.:
2 customers in one day:
@DizzyBrunette — & — @MissKLWalker
UPDATE: 24.10.2019
THREE wrong products in ONE day
customers have posted on Twitter even before the 2:30pm lunch end in Pret:
- Wrong Soup – Mislabelled: Mushroom Risotto label on Curry Soup:
Link to a really great video!
2. Wrong Coffee – Milk instead black for dairy intolerant
3. Wrong Toastie
UPDATE: 12. October 2019 – Life-long Vegetarian eats mislabeled Tuna instead of Veggie Toastie
Link to Tom Rache’s Tweet
Link to his wife Julia Ramil’s Tweet
After I tweeted to Tom Rache & Julia Ramil with this blog entry I got a full shadow ban from Twitter, probably via Pret reporting me, which got my Tweets hidden for 24 hours and can only be viewed with direct link or via my Tweets and Replies page. This is to silence the systemic issue of mislabelling due to under-staffing:
UPDATE: 11. October 2019 – BACON instead of Beef
UPDATE: 11. October 2019 New York – Wrong soup label
UPDATE: 02. October 2019 – MEAT instead of Veg
UPDATE 23. September 2019
For the sake of time and not wanting to clutter my page with endless examples, here are just a few visuals that show that the problem of wrongly labelled products in Pret is a VERY common problem and continues to this day!
The main reason for this, from my experience having worked at Pret, is chronic under-staffing of low-paid workers who are often not trained well. They are pressured, rushed and pushed so much, they work in often cramped areas, that these mistakes keep happening.
What is so beyond believe to me is, that in the UK even with two customer deaths, a third nearly fatal, numerous customer warnings ignored before AND even after people died… Pret goes full steam ahead, doing business as usual and gets away with it. In the U.S. it would hail a storm of class action lawsuits and the leadership would face prison! In the UK they put small business owners (often Indian or other with non-British background) in prison after 1 death! And rightly so, but Pret is too big, too rich and in my opinion, too white! Sorry, but I left my PC days behind long time ago!
In the UK people remain lulled in and want to believe the fairy tale that is Pret A Manger.
Vegetarians, or people, who for religious reasons don’t eat pork, keep settling for an apology and cheap freebies from Pret.
So, here’s a visual again on how common this problem is. Just few of the many examples. I had to fix this issue countless times as a Team Leader. In my 10 years in Pret from 2008 to the end of 2017, I had to fix this on a weekly basis, sometimes several times a day!
The other issue also is that, even though the standard is in place to not mix items on one tray, due to lack of staff, rushed for time to not lose Mystery Shopper bonus, staff bake Mozzarella Croissants on previously used Ham Croissant Trays. They even sometimes put both together on one tray to safe time and washing up. This also happens with the sweet croissants and the danger of traces of nuts touching other items. Staff are not supposed to do this, but because they often even work overtime without pay, they stop caring. I had to deal with this many times as well, retrain, redo etc. etc. etc…… And again, I don’t even blame the low-paid worker here, because when they don’t finish their production in time, they are fear managed and scared to lose their job. So, anyone assuming that at times the Veggie product did not touch the Meat product, or wasn’t baked in the “juice” of the Ham or Meat product, think again!
People are fooled with the facade of Pret. But I emphasize again that Pret A Manger is a FACTORY behind the scenes, there is NOTHING “Lovingly made” as their stickers boast! There’s no time nor room for Love in Pret A Manger!
These visuals are only a selection, there is much more, and not everyone goes on Twitter with pictures:
After TWENTY-NINE YEARS… This is 2015. Link to Tweet
This one is particularly misleading, because the Ham Croissant does NOT have a slice of tomato on top like the Mozzarella & Tomato Croissant has, to distinguish each other additionally to the labelling. So, in a rush the Hot Chef, or whoever put the croissants in the oven, added the tomato by mistake. OR they didn’t realize this was the Ham croissant, as in a frozen state they can look similar, although the Ham has black pepper on top, and the Mozzarella Croissant white cheese sprinkles. But again, due to rushing, these mistakes happen fast. From 2017:
After TWENTY-THREE YEARS… Prosciutto instead of Brie Baguette
A reversed problem: Tuna instead of Ham Toastie
To safe space… the Ham & Cheese Collage (Links underneath)
30. Dec. 2017
03. Mar. 2018
14. Feb. 2017
11. Mar. 2018
24. Feb. 2018
24. Jan. 2018
10. July 2017
18. Feb. 2016
11. Dec. 2014
14. Sep. 2014
11. July 2017 Lifelong Vegetarian…
Commercial break: A little humo(u)r
… and so on…
A more extensive list on this problem also with soups wrongly labelled >>> “Ongoing Issues, hospitalization, mislabelling…” but I stopped collecting in Dec. 2018 as this is ridiculous!
Again this is due to UNDERSTAFFED Shops, rushed staff, and at times staff don’t understand English well, placing products behind wrong labels.
6th December 2019 trial started after Celia Marsh, the second customer died of a Pret product. LINK >>> Pret A Manger facces trial after allergen death.
What staff say anonymously on Review sites, YouTube, Twitter, FB and other websites:
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The above slideshows are just a selection, the list goes on in → Pret Staff Complaints
Clive Schlee “retired” in September 2019 but remains in the background as a non-executive director. This is his legacy he left behind:
June/July 2019 Glassdoor results
UPDATE: October 2019 – New CEO:
May 2019:
TWO Pret Staff have died
>>> Link to Article
I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post.
An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret.
I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review.
Thank you for reading/listening.
Interview
NOTE: Since WordPress changed to a new editing system, some features don’t work anymore. For the audio interview, please visit my MEDIA page where the old player still works.
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Bullied during bereavement in Pret A Manger 