With my horrendous experience in Pret A Manger, which I write and speak about all over my blog (see the very bottom of this page), this forcing me to not only become more cynical, mistrusting and careful, but also more “enlightened” about how businesses work. I looked deeper into company connections with charities and trusts, and why for-profit businesses start them.
Pret, of course, also have a Trust, the Pret Foundation Trust, now simply shortened to the Pret Foundation. From experience, from lawsuits, the press and other staff sharing, Pret (also of course) are into wage theft, exploitation, even skimming tax payers (pandemic) while the CEO pockets millions.
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2018
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2026 class action settlement payout from 2024 and 2019 wage thefts:
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etc. etc. etc.
More on Pret’s systemic wage theft in all its subtle forms also in the UK, but the legal system in the UK is different than in the USA: Wage Theft in Pret.
And when I went through bereavement in Pret, the Pret Foundation did not help me at all, not even after I and an OPs (Operations) Manager directly asked Pret for the Foundation to help. For those new to my blog, I became traumatically bereaved after 7 years in Pret as a very successful and sought-after Team Leader. I held out about 3 years further as I had nowhere to go, being completely traumatised. The Pret Foundation turned a blind eye and was nowhere to be found.
To be clear, I used to give to charities and projects, even while on low wage. But now, I only give to individuals or to small charities where I KNOW their work and how they handle the charity and what impact they have. Other than that, I never give to any appeal, charity, trust etc. It’s a bottomless pit to me, especially when they have CEOs and executives on higher wages than the UK Prime Minister or U.S. President. I give to individuals directly who struggle.
I write in another post about Charities and how it’s concerning how many charities have popped up in the last 10+ years, even in wealthy nations like Germany. We keep hearing, but now are feeling it, how the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. Not only does this then call for more charities, but I believe that big businesses cash in and some large corporates are behind these charities.
The poor get the scraps of the rich under the “saving food waste” umbrella. More and more volunteer “opportunity” is “offered” to appear what a great opportunity it is to have FREE LABOUR. The volunteers under their “own choice” should be grateful to have something to do or brush up their CV, a CV for further low paid jobs, while eating close to and already expired foods.
But the subject of Trusts is something that is very sinister. When I looked further into the Pret Foundation and, how since the pandemic Pret and many other organisations have put digital donation devices into their businesses under the “charity” guise, but me knowing how crooked Pret are, this is not out of the kindness of their hearts.
Pret even went further and placed these donation devices right next to the payment devices and customers in the rush and the noise distractions of the shops accidentally donated £5 to Pret and were then prompted by staff again to pay for their items.
I wrote extensively about this with several examples and photos in: Cheating, Lies and Theft at Pret.
Just a few examples of angry customers, but more in above link. Please know that the shop staff are NOT allowed to move the donation devices and are equally embarrassed when customers get surprised just having donated without consent.
Also note how LARGE the pay sign on the donation devices are compared to the smaller payment devices. It’s all psychology, as people in a rush always fall for the bigger visuals, those that are brighter and towering above the rest of the more darker and smaller devices.
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etc. etc. etc. More in above link.
Low and behold, the donations increased by 122%!!! 😉
(Little side-note, many still use Pret’s old logo with “natural” on it, but Pret are banned since 2018 from advertising their food as natural. They lied there as they lie pretty much about everything).
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My response to the announcement of this statistic:
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And as Pret use a third-party company to facilitate the donations, customers are sent around loops to try and get their accidental donations back. Pret make it hard on purpose, so people give up. And many don’t even ask for a refund from CHARITY out of embarrassment to appear careless about the poor. And Pret know that very well.
Bottom comment marked with red:
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Furthermore, Pret started digital TIP devices claiming that all the tips go to staff. First of all, bullsh!t, either a fraction or NOTHING goes to staff. Pret have a strict rule for staff NOT to take tips, I know this from my 10 years in Pret! Plus, I visited New York City twice, once in 2008 and then 2013. Both times still working in Pret. I visited Pret stores out of curiosity on what is different in the food and what is the same etc.
In 2008 they had tip boxes with glass at the counters. Out of workers’ solidarity I tipped, as in the UK we never had tip boxes, but only charity boxes. In 2013 these tip boxes in NYC were converted to charity boxes. I ask the staff who served me and was told that they now are not allowed to receive tips anymore. Now, America is very very huge with tips. Low-wage workers rely on tips. But anytime between 2008 and 2013 Pret converted the tip boxes to charity boxes.
But in the pandemic, with all the profit losses, suddenly donation AND tip devices appeared. Sure, out of the kindness of Pret’s heart, huh? 😉
Knowing about Pret’s wage-theft from my own experience and lawsuits (in 2026 Pret are re-paying over $1 million to thousands of workers after stealing their wages again – the 3rd of such settlement since 2018 in NYC). Of course I don’t believe that staff even get a fraction of the tips, let alone everything! In another company I worked many years ago, we were allowed to keep all the cash tips, but from the credit card tips, the company took 15%. But at least we were informed about this.
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Very bottom text highlighted in red/yellow is a lie to fool customers. Also as a side-note, this tip device takes American Express, but Pret do NOT take American Express payment for products, unless they changed since I left. So when it comes to tips and donations that are tax free for the company, they would accept gold coins out of a donkey’s ass!
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And on social media a customer responded to me, when I said that Pret do NOT give the tips to staff, the person then confirmed after a Pret head office staff accidentally told the truth. The person though tried hard to justify Pret’s lies and theft:
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Don’t trust Trusts!
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Apart from Pret, I also did a little bit of research into Pret’s current owners, the 2. richest family in Germany, the Reimanns. This family is also the richest family in Austria as they took up citizenship and residence there, to get better tax breaks compared to Germany. Little side-note, former Pret CEO, now itsu CEO Clive Schlee also has a residence in Austria. It is very attractive tax-wise for rich people to have a main residence in Austria.
And the Reimann family via their private equity firm JAB Holdings run Pret and their other companies via tax haven Luxembourg.
I wrote about this in Private Equity Trap Pret Jumped Into and also the Pret Foundation.
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How the Rich use Trusts while Poverty Worldwide Increases
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Just a few videos I find super enlightening in how Trusts work, and to me is a no-brainer why we have more and more Charities and Trusts pop up everywhere, especially and most appallingly in rich countries.
In some of the videos I skipped forward to a spot that is very interesting, but I recommend watching the whole videos. Some of these are about the Reimann family. Also note-worthy that the Reimanns aggressively buy out veterinarian clinics and pet insurance to the detriment of pet welfare and pet owners’ pockets. U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren is coming after JAB / Reimann for this reason.
A Rolling Stone article:
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I urge everyone to STOP giving to faceless, and especially large “charities”, and look for a neighbour in your community who is in need in whatever struggle and help them directly. It can be as simple as putting a bag of fresh groceries in front of an elderly person’s door, knock or ring the bell and leave anonymously, or offer a ride to the doctor etc. It’s that simple!
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How Trusts work in Favour of the Rich in Offshore Accounts:
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THE best short crash-course into how Trusts work for the rich. Already skipped to 16:45
Quote: “The Trust is a very slippery, complicated and devious mechanism.”
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How rich companies use Trusts to hide their money and shield their assets: Already skipped to 2:35
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How Robert Maxwell, the father of Ghislaine Maxwell, funnelled stolen Pension Funds cash into Trusts to hide the money. Already skipped to 8:35
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And speaking of Ghislaine Maxwell, with the millions of Epstein files dropped and horrific details being revealed of many prominent billionaires and politicians:
Les Wexner (Victoria Secret and 19 other brands) who gave Epstein full power of attorney of his business dealings, enriching Epstein, shared in his recent deposition that his wife started Trusts for their four children.
Trusts for their children?? Aren’t you supposed to set up Trusts to help the poor or any charitable or medical purpose in the world or community?
I haven’t researched it, but starting Trusts for children looks to me like avoiding inheritance taxes for the kids later, as well as hiding the amount of money. And Les Wexner here pretends to not know how much his wife put into these Trusts. I don’t think Wexner realized what kind of beans he spilled about this.
And of course Jeffrey Epstein had charities as they are money makers. Plus, Charities, Trusts and Non-Profits are perfect money laundering machines. Spin baby, spin.
Skipped to 25:33
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etc. etc. etc.
And for Pret related stuff, two recent videos by different accounts mentioning my blog with all the things they cover from my blog. I don’t get paid for my work, but I appreciate people finally crediting back to my work.
About how Pret force staff to portray a fake happiness and how the coffee subscription backfired on Pret. This account even mentioned my blog twice. Appreciate!
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Regarding how appalling Pret’s response was after two customers died and multiple people got injured. That account changed the title. I don’t believe Pret are “dying”, but they might get sold again after having lost a third of their value.
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Thank you for reading, watching. Please look after individuals in your neighbourhood, family, friends, not after large corporate “charities”.
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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. Schlee has been appointed CEO of itsu in 2024 by Julian Metcalfe who gave him the CEO spot at Pret many years ago.
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 and What shop MANAGERS & HQ staff say about Pret incl. CEO Pano Christou.
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 as well as mentioned by the BBC.
Please also see the MEDIA page for more on my work with the press.
NEW LinkTree.
Thank you for reading/listening.
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Interview:
(Please be aware that the player shows 0:00 but just press play)
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Bullied during bereavement in Pret A Manger 
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