This time for itsu, which he already partially owns. With itsu founder Julian Metcalfe’s angry “foot-in-mouth” disease, and Metcalfe’s former business partner, Pret RE-co-founder Sinclair Beecham back in Pret, it seems like Metcalfe needs a sweet-talker in itsu. And who better to sweet-talk staff, the public and the press than Clive Schlee.
And it makes sense why Schlee doesn’t want to feature on Glassdoor as CEO with the legacy he left behind at Pret before he “retired” from Pret in September 2019.
Pardon me upfront for spoiling it again and bringing another side to the PR story we’re always presented with. For new readers, I take you behind the scenes of Pret and peel off the PR sweet-talk of Pret as well as itsu and its executive teams.
Clive Schlee, a CEO who snuck out of Pret and is snuck back into being CEO via itsu.
But say, who is Jason Cotta whom Clive Schlee “replaces”?
Interesting how this piece of news is announced on a Friday, enough time for journalists to draft a report for the massive Sunday papers when many business leaders are off. 😉
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Julian Metcalfe and Clive Schlee
When I confronted Julian Metcalfe, itsu founder and Pret A Manger RE-co-founder on Twitter regarding itsu staff reviews on him, he was also placed as CEO on Glassdoor, NOT a Jason Cotta, and now NOT Clive Schlee.
I put some of Metcalfe’s tweets on my blog and video platforms before he deleted everything incl. his Twitter account back in 2021.
But who is Jason Cotta? And why are journalists not digging deeper? Laziness? Lack of interest? Kissing boots of rich business men?
AFTER my “encounter” with Metcalfe on Twitter, all the negative reviews where he personally was mentioned by staff disappeared. They only exist on the screenshots I took. See YouTube slide here below of Metcalfe’s deleted tweets and Twitter account. Please note, my handle used to be @LateNightGirlMe after Clive Schlee patronised me in my traumatic grief, emailing everyone:
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One of his Tweets I didn’t include in above slide is where he claimed his staff “begged” him to stay on zero hour contacts! What a clown! Imagine that already low paid workers wanting “flexibility” as if they had the money to be off work. If staff have the luxury to have flexible time in their lives, they’d not be working in sh!t places like itsu, Pret, McDonald’s… in the first place! Never have I been held for such an idiot like this. And keep in mind Clive Schlee is involved with itsu since its early days and since decades Clive used to own half of the company, but since Bridgepoint’s take-over now owns 10%. He’s AS MUCH involved as his entitled buddy Metcalfe.
Bridgepoint bought Pret in 2008 and sold to the 2. richest family in Germany in 2018, the secretive Reimann family with an extensive Nazi-slavery past. The Reimanns run Pret and a host of other companies (including aggressively buying out veterinarian practices and pet insurance companies) via tax haven Luxembourg. And as Schlee already has experience with Bridgepoint at Pret between 2008-2018, it’s a no-brainer Bridgepoint runs itsu and further sucks the lifeblood out of staff and customers. Private Equity for you.
But back to Metcalfe, after only 2 days on Twitter, Metcalfe closed his account! Didn’t have a leg to stand on! He retweeted the wrong person’s posts! So much to being media savvy! Does itsu not have a PR department holding the reins tighter on Metcalfe?
In hindsight, this had Kamala Harris – Donald Trump debate vibes! I couldn’t believe he kept re-tweeting me! I even remember thinking “keep talking Julian, keep talking” while busy grabbing screen shots! 😀
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Clive Schlee, who “retired” in 2019 owns part of itsu, becoming itsu’s CEO is a test or provocation on how the British public takes more bullshit from these entitled people.
I write extensively about how Schlee patronised me during traumatic bereavement: Clive Schlee’s Legacy.
My exposé on net-worth £215 million itsu founder and Pret RE-co-founder Julian Metcalfe, his friendship with Clive Schlee, his love for zero hour contracts and robots, his connection to the Royal family, a questionable connection (Jeffrey Epstein), what staff say about him, why some Asian people don’t like him and how I chased him off Twitter, now X.
Sinclair Beecham, the other RE-co-founder of Pret is also now back in Pret after current CEO Pano Christou with his over 20 years in Pret has his head in the sand regarding customer complaints, high staff turnover, £700 million debt and other issues. (£800,000 fine after ignoring safety issues yet again, and another staff got trapped in a freezer for close to 3 hours fighting for her life.)
Now the happy family of Pret and itsu goes as follows:
Metcalfe / Schlee (itsu)
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Beecham / Christou (Pret)
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Little update February 2025:
Julian Metcalfe again trying to throw Pret under the bus by comparing his SUSHI business to Pret’s SANDWICH business, claiming he will overtake Pret by size. In a recent Telegraph article, Metcalfe continues to talk nonsense. There seems to be resentment towards Pret, or is it jealousy? Regret? Regret to have sold Pret and “retrieved” to itsu with Schlee?
Quote from part of the article with the old-fashioned five-year plan:
»The founder of Pret A Manger believes his Asian-inspired food business Itsu will soon be bigger than the ubiquitous sandwich chain, as he bets on appetite from health-conscious consumers and international growth. … “In five years, we’ll definitely be much, much bigger than Pret A Manger because we’ll have a really fast-growing relationship with customers and no one else can supply the sort of food that we do.”«
Metcalfe’s nonsense is discreetly shut down, quote:
»Yet most analysts viewed Metcalfe’s ambition to take on Pret as overly optimistic, given the strong presence of the sandwich shop in cities across the UK. “Comparing Itsu to Pret A Manger feels a bit of a red herring,” said Clive Black, head of research at Shore Capital. “It would require quite an enormous organic store opening programme or an acquisition of a significant number of stores, or a collapse of Pret sales.”«
Two things:
Pret are NOT an organic food company. Pret claim to do organic coffee, but not food. Pret were even banned in 2018 by the Advertising Standards Authority from claiming their food is natural. And I even question Pret’s claim of organic coffee as their coffee is so cheap; Pret stopped doing fair-trade beans also around 2018; and their coffee has a bad reputation since years and ongoing. Apart from that, the term “organic” can now be more loosely used as they relaxed the rules and if one part of an ingredient is organic, but not the other part, companies STILL present the whole product as “organic”. Pret’s BIGGEST profit margin is coffee. HOW can the sheer amount of coffee Pret sell be “organic” while so cheap for Pret? 😉
Why is Metcalfe not taking on Wasabi or any other Asian inspired chain? It’s like Mercedes Benz wanting to compete with a Red Bull cross motor bike racing brand. Again, from having observed Metcalfe’s public comments, as well as his reputation with staff, this sounds like a man who regrets having sold Pret out completely and is forced to watch Pret’s growth from afar. He can’t get a grip of this and pretends he can overtake Pret. and some business experts aren’t having it.
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Bridgepoint (now owns itsu / formerly owned Pret between 2008-2018).
JAB Holdings / Reimann family currently own Pret since 2018.
It’s not Pret “versus” itsu, but Pret “and” itsu back in the fight to fool the public. They’re one big family out for more money and Schlee trying to get his fuzzy spot back with the press and the public.
They hope that grass has grown over their neglect for customer safety and staff exploitation. I keep mowing.
Clive Schlee former CEO of Pret ignored customer deaths and injuries before it got public, together with Pano Christou who was UK Managing Director then, and is now CEO of Pret.
Schlee had a podcast appearance earlier in 2024 with two Austrian guys, one of which used to work at Pret (Bauer). Schlee has a main residence in Austria where he also used to have executive meetings and takes people on a hike, while his main staff suffered in London and around other countries.
In this podcast interview Schlee was asked typical business questions like how a CEO deals with challenge, crisis etc. He started with what the most challenging issue was with itsu and then with Pret.
In the podcast Schlee’s biggest set-back in itsu was the 2. shop he and Metcalfe opened. In Pret his biggest challenge was the 2008 financial crisis, NOT the customer deaths and injuries. In fact, the customer fatalities and injuries are not mentioned even once!
Not one time does Schlee acknowledge the deaths of 2 customers and multiple injuries of people, some who landed in hospital from unlabelled allergens. Schlee did the usual sweet-talk and even distanced himself from responsibility, saying that decisions are “democratic”. It’s his typical way to pass the buck to others.
For new readers to my blog, please familiarise yourself with Pret’s extremely strict and micromanaging mystery shopper scheme, forcing staff to portray a happiness or they get penalised.
Clive Schlee here in the podcast is talking his typical La La Land sweet-talk, in delusion or plain denial how staff suffer.
I write about Pret’s mystery shopper scheme, which since around 2016-ish is done via HGEM which are also mystery shopper providers for itsu. HGEM blocked me on Twitter after I posted to them how much I suffered, to the point of suicide, under Pret’s abusive and humiliating mystery shopper scheme. So far to a company that provides a service to make people “happy”.
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Please see The Dangers of Emotional Labour on Pret’s mystery shopper scheme. There’s a reason why I renamed it as “misery” shopper.
In case the above podcast link gets deleted, I uploaded it. It’s 35+ minutes, if it shows 0:00, just click play:
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Repeat: Schlee’s podcast interview and NOT ONE mention on customer fatalities and injuries!
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We’re witnessing the biggest piss-take in the history of Pret A Manger
Schlee, who got the Pret CEO gig from Metcalfe … and mentored (diaper changed) current Pret CEO Pano Christou …
will either try to throw Christou under the bus OR for old time’s sake MERGE itsu with Pret. You’ve read it here first!
Hey! Why hasn’t that happened before? But from observing Pret and itsu, with Metcalfe having thrown Pret under the bus recently, I guess they like to stay at arms length, still supporting each other.
Metcalfe is a more ruthless boss, while Schlee is more timid and fools his way through the business world with sweet-talk and a touchy-touchy approach. Sinclair Beecham rolls up his sleeves, being back in Pret, already having pumped money into Pret during the pandemic. Pano Christou, who learnt from Schlee is busy portraying himself as this great CEO in the press.
Pret, with the money-power of JAB Holdings bought EAT, with EAT’s former CEO Andrew Walker (former Pret UK Managing Director) “resigning” after his “visit” to Schlee’s Austrian residence. Ooops! Tell us more Mr. Schlee.
The biggest set-back for Schlee in regards to itsu was when he and Metcalfe opened the second itsu shop and ran into massive financial challenges.
Here is where Clive Fretwell comes in, whom Schlee of course doesn’t mention in the podcast interview. Fretwell won a Tribunal case against Metcalfe and Schlee, and was rewarded an undisclosed sum.
Quote from below article:
»Clive Fretwell, who had worked for 14 years at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, told a Woburn employment tribunal he had been recruited in 1988 to help develop a chain of Itsu restaurants.
He said the intention had been to give him a 2.5% founding stake in the business and an additional 10% in two years, with the possibility of “big money” if it were sold.
When a second restaurant, which opened two years later, failed to live up to expectations, Fretwell claimed he became aware that Metcalfe and itsu co-director Clive Schlee were trying to get rid of him.
He said he was told last July that the company could not afford his salary, and he was dismissed in August.
This Caterer link has now turned into registration/log in only. But it can also be found via other news putlets like The Evening Standard etc. Just a simply Google search will show several sites.
So, “retired” Clive Schlee is back on the fast-food scene. How does the press, and more importantly, how do customers deal with it?
Clive Schlee for sure can’t let Pano Christou take all the applause together with Sinclair Beecham. Are Metcalfe and Schlee trying to puff their chests out to shout to the public that THEY are still relevant?
For sure, all these four entitled prats are one big happy family, squeezing the heck out of low-wage staff and continue to rip off customers. I named Clive Schlee the Ronald McDonald Clown of Pret for his role as Pret CEO being the smiley facade to the public while staff were/are exploited and patronised.
Itsu will now get its own clown. Pardon for being so blunt, but after how Schlee called me his “late night girl” when I became traumatically ill with emailing. And then weeks later gave the green light for HR to fire me after I declined Pret’s “hush money”, not signing a NDA, and days after my dad came out of a three-week coma. Not to mention how he and Pano ignored customer deaths and injuries before it got public, he deserves the clown title. And that is even too mild!
I have a feeling that after Metcalfe threw Pret under the bus in the press earlier in 2024 while his former business partner Sinclair Beecham being back in Pret trying to fix the £700 million debt in Pret and the aggressive expansion, as tasked by the Reimanns, Metcalfe places Schlee as CEO into itsu as an internal competition to Beecham/Christou?
Just a thought.
Also, worth noting that itsu continues to have product recalls due to either mislabelling or wrong ingredients in their food, as well as customer reviews of “foul” fish, chicken etc.
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And an updated review early Feb. 2025:
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For more, please see Trustpilot most recent reviews along those lines.
And 73% of customers on Trustpilot (1&2 star reviews combined as of Feb. 2025) disapprove of Pret on a variety of issues, many having sworn to never set foot inside Pret again. Hence, Sinclair Beecham was called back to fix the mess while Pano Christou is busy telling the media what a “rags to riches” star he is.
And as a little side note, when customers rave about “happy” staff, they still don’t know about Pret’s micromanaging mystery shopper scheme, forcing staff to smile or not get bonus. I put links to articles about this on Pret’s Emotional Labour practices.
And as I link customers to Trustpilot, there seem to be an organised effort by die-hard Pret fans and/or Pret themselves to boost up Pret’s ratings now. 😉
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Today is the 27.09.2024 and let’s see when/if Clive Schlee will be placed on Glassdoor. Unless Metcalfe remains there to take the credit, and Schlee is still “traumatised” from his review score on Glassdoor.
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Little side note: Metcalfe recently got his drivers license suspended for 6 months for using his mobile phone while driving.
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Customers and the Press may forget, but exploited Staff never forget
Clive Schlee certainly left Pret with a “legacy” and then placed Christou on Glassdoor two months before Schlee “retired”. See the date on the top right, 30 June 2019. In July 2019 Pano Christou was placed on Glassdoor even though Schlee “retired” from Pret in September 2019. A customer pointed out the bad scoring of Schlee when Schlee was still on Twitter.
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This comment to Pret and Clive is fom 01. July 2019 when the announcement was made that Schlee would retire in September 2019. It took less than two weeks and Pano Christou was quickly put on Glassdoor as CEO. 😀
Schlee also remained as CEO on Twitter until July 2020. Couldn’t let go. And Pano Christou deleted his Twitter account in July 2019 when Schlee’s “retirement” was announced. Christou is on LinkedIn where people in the business world tell him all day long how great he is.
Clive Schlee 30 June 2019
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Pano Christou 12 July 2019
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And what shop managers, HQ staff, even OPs (area) manager say about Pret incl. Pano Chtistou: Pret CEO Reputation with Staff←
Not to mention Clive Schlee’s ranking as Pret CEO (2014) having been towards the bottom in comparison with other company CEOs:
And the challenge by animal rights activists to Clive Schlee, who’s on the Board of Directors for Dairy Farm Group, one of the largest retail companies in Asia, regarding chicken welfare:
Let’s not forget, or let’s learn who started Pret. And let’s continue the conversation in how Pret / Metcalfe / Beecham / Schlee / Christou REFUSE to mention and honour him.
A friend of the late Jeffrey Hyman who tweeted a remembrance on Hyman’s anniversary of his death, told me on Twitter that Pret employed someone to keep changing the Wikipedia entry on Pret to delete any mention of Hyman. The person got banned eventually.
Screenshot of my conversation with Hyman’s friend:
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Do your own research on any company or organisation when they sound too good to be true. And always check your food!
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etc. etc. etc.
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Again, who is Jason Cotta whom Clive Schlee “replaces”? Isn’t Schlee replacing Metcalfe? Or who was the CEO of itsu? Metcalfe certainly must have gotten the negative reviews on him deleted off Glassdoor to “build” a faux legacy KNOWING how I at least collect screenshots after I chased him off Twitter / X.
Who is Jason Cotta? Upon doing just a few minutes of digging online, Jason Cotta seems to fill in spots in various companies. He seems to jump from company to company, as a filler? He’s not named as itsu’s CEO as far as I can find.
And as a reminder or something new for those who don’t follow Pret issues, Clive Schlee several times quoted his wife who said that, quote: “any damn fool can run Pret“. Well, the fool’s back.
I changed Pret’s logo to reflect the reality. Please note, that since 2018 Pret are banned from claiming their food is “natural”. But even the “freshly made” slogan is a lie. What could itsu be changed into to reflect reality?
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Most people try to gaslight me that all the stuff I’ve been through since 2015 is no big deal. A recent comment on social media below at the end. Thank you for acknowledging. It means a lot to me.
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And a last little side note, Pret have the Pret Foundation Trust where they supposedly help former homeless people and ex-prisoners into work. I and an OPs manager asked Pret if I can be placed under someone from the Pret Foundation due to my traumatic loss, the bullying in Pret, despite me having worked 7 years very successfully when my brother died. I have that request in writing.
Pret never responded.
Their Pret Foundation is just a smoke screen to hide how they really treat staff and for PR. I encourage people to do some research into Trusts. Those are not only perfect for tax breaks, but Trusts are not scrutinised like businesses are. I really recommend watching this little part from a documentary about offshore tax havens. And then it will also ring bells why Pret since the pandemic have placed donation devices very close next to payment devices. Customers then accidentally in a rush tap the donation device, unwillingly donate £5 and then being prompted again to pay and tap the payment device. Katchink!
And Pret make it hard to get a refund as the refund is issued by the company (GoodBox) who collects the donations on Pret’s behalf. And Pret know how customers most likely are embarrassed to request a refund from “charity”. Never trust a Trust and a billion-pound heavy company that have Trusts under the “charity” umbrella!
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And many more complaints like this. And low and behold, it’s “proving very popular with Pret customers” with Pret having had a 122% increase in donations! When I worked at Pret, the donation boxes where 99% filled with pennies and 5p coins max. VERY rarely was there £1 and £2 coins or bank notes. So yes, a £5 donation by default via machines … katchink!
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The money grab is everywhere. And Pret’s current owners, the 2. richest family in Germany, the secretive Reimann family run Pret, Krispy Kreme, Panera and a host of other companies via JAB Holdings in tax haven Luxembourg. JAB also aggressively buy out veterinarian practices and entered the pet insurance market, all to the detriment of pet health and pet owners’ pockets. The good news is, that US Senator Elizabeth Warren is coming after JAB.
Check who owns your vet and support small independent businesses who would get shut down with ONE customer fatality.
And I wish that itsu gets a blogger exposing them like Pret has with my blog. But I fear, I will remain the only one after Andrej Stopa and another former staff’s Facebook “I hate Pret” page.
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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.
As the Ghislaine Maxwell trial started today and the UK media remains silent after I sent the below to the press, and Maxwell’s camp tried hard to keep evidence out of court, I re-post this again and again!
UPDATE August 2022
My brief “case study” on Julian Metcalfe, it’s not indepth as I want to highlight something specific: Julian Metcalfe’s Family Line.
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So here I am, minding my own business when I receive an email from an anonymous person with a link to page 38 for a “black book” of none other then convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, who some believe may have been “suicided”. As I am contacted by former and current Pret staff, as well as now itsu issues that I pass on to the press, and at times it gets reported on, I get info as my blog is the main link between behind the scenes of Pret/itsu and the public/press.
So, the black address book of Epstein, what names do I see?
Pret A Manger co-“re”-founder and itsu founder, net-worth £215 million, Julian Metcalfe and his former wife Melanie with two addresses and phone numbers.
Of course it’s not a crime to be in a convicted pedophile & sex trafficker’s address book. And to be fair, Metcalfe was married to Melanie between 1992 and 2005. The first allegation on Epstein to police came in 2005, so technically people didn’t/couldn’t know about Epstein’s crimes. But still! Itsu staff have reviewed Metcalfe as sexist, racist, aggressive etc. (see YouTube below). Metcalfe comes from a long line of elite British folk and grew up wealthy and privileged. And in an interview with the Telegraph in July 2021 Metcalfe’s words are headlined with “Only the fittest will survive high street cull”.
This is very much in line with Metcalfe’s words to the Daily Mail last year regarding lock-down and being happy to sacrifice a few thousand very old and vulnerable people for the hospitality industry (again, please see YouTube below).
So, only Metcalfe knows why he is in Epstein’s infamous “black book” that has Ghislane Maxwell shake in her boots! And it doesn’t need to mean anything. But I find it noteworthy to mention after Metcalfe’s own aggressive words to the press (and other words that he deleted after I confronted him on Twitter), and what others say about him.
Quote from the Western Journal: »Epstein employee Alfredo Rodriguez called the list the “Holy Grail” or “Golden Nugget” that would map out the billionaire’s alleged underage sex network. Rodriguez first tried to sell it to journalists; instead, authorities seized it as evidence.«
I was sent this because I chased Metcalfe off Twitter last year and put it on a YouTube slide where I explained why Pret can’t be distanced to Metcalfe, after Pret made a statement of distancing themselves when Metcalfe made his appalling “eugenicist” lock-down comments to none other than the Daily Mail tabloid of all papers! Dumb move! After I chased him off Twitter, he’s become a little more media savvy now!
On his 2 day Twitter stint, I posted itsu staff reviews to Metcalfe where he is alleged to be sexist, racist, aggressive etc. Metcalfe continued his dumbness by RT’ing my Tweets to him! I suppose someone from Pret then must have warned him of who I am, as he then deleted his Twitter account the next day after only 2 days there, not knowing I already made screenshots!
I even tweeted at him saying, “will see how long you can hold on Twitter”, never thinking he lasted only 2 days, as other Pret execs ran off Twitter since I exposed Pret there.
His deletedTweets:
I use YouTube as my blog url is blocked completely on Facebook/Instagram even in private messages! But they can’t block YouTube!
Please note, I changed my Twitter handle “LateNightGirlMe to @expretDOTorg, as “late night girl” doesn’t make any sense for new readers. I explain how I came to my former handle in below audio player interview.
Most of his deleted Tweets where he retweeted my Tweets here on YouTibe:
Little side note: Former Pret CEO Clive Schlee is very close friends and business partner with Julian Metcalfe. And Schlee is on the board of directors and owns half of itsu. But no, Schlee isn’t in Epstein’s address book, I’ve already checked! 😉
And a little piece about one of the phone books, as there is more than 1 it seems:
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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 (a close friend & business partner of Julian Metcalfe who also owns half of Metcalfe’s company itsu). 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.
… not imagining he’d just last a little over 1 day!
Upfront: Don’t try this at home unless you have nothing left to lose.
This is the short version, the full recipe is scattered throughout this website.
You need the following:
A close family member or friend died, in traumatic circumstances. You learnt of the death in the worst way possible, preferably in an ice-cold impersonal email while you were alone in the morning. What would make your anger and trauma a bit worse is that your close family member or friend has already been cremated before you even knew they died.
You work in a company that targets you from the get go and tries to get rid of you because bereaved employees are an inconvenience to the company, especially if it’s a fast-food and low-wage employer. You have no choice but to work as you have lost the little savings you had with all the costs that came up and with no financial support whatsoever. You try to distract yourself from the emotional war-zone you were thrust into.
You raise grievance after grievance in utter trauma and anxiety, not realizing that the HR department is in on the bullying and is as toxic as their unlabelled allergen products.
After a year of unsuccessfully trying to get help with this HR department, you contact the CEO of the company, also not realizing he is the catalyst for this toxic environment. But as his camouflage is to present the firm as an ethical, happy and caring company Ronald McDonald style. So, the “pret-ense” begins (sorry, couldn’t help it!). They start paying for therapy sessions to appear supportive, but the bullying continues and turns very subtle compared to the open aggression before. The CEO is stuck with continuing to play this game to hold up the PR[et] facade. He puts the Head of HR on your case who offers you three Non Disclosure Agreements, which you decline. You decline a forth NDA after you withdraw the Tribunal claim as your dad died during the preparation for the case.
You can’t afford a lawyer. You break down after having lost your brother, your father, your job that wasn’t worth your time anyway. And you lost your sense of self-worth after being gaslit, manipulated and bullied by multi-millionaires. You have completely lost your marbles but not your sense for right and wrong. The adrenaline of your anger keeps you going!
The losses and what the company does to you is stuff for a shooting spree after having lost your marbles, but you go on an emailing spree instead. You take the patronizing name that the coward CEO labelled you with and put a “dot org” behind it, and you start writing. As this coward CEO prefers to label you his “late night girl” instead of labelling his food to save a life, you also post on social media and copy in any journalist you can find. You get reported to the social media platforms, you get censored, shadow banned, blocked, shut down by platforms. You also get cussed out, laughed at, called names by loyal customers … because the company has no balls to confront you or put right what they’ve done. Loyal customers, who hate having their illusions crushed about this company, and mainstream journalists who suck up to the company are bystanders. They’re indifferent towards fast-food workers and are NOT independent journalists. They make free advertisement for this company as their judgement is blurred at best and corrupt at worst.
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So, here’s my “How To Card” for Pret’s #RecipeBook on how to chase 3 multi-millionaire coward CEOs off Twitter.
On 01. July 2019 in the early hours I tweeted to the press that Clive Schlee, then CEO of Pret, was “retiring”. As Schlee couldn’t be bothered to announce this himself but suffers from foot-in-mouth disease, I did him the favour to announce it for him. Schlee was congratulated to his retirement by someone on Twitter and he responded to the Tweet while neglecting to respond to a serious health and safety concern by a customer who tweeted to Schlee TWICE.
Customer Tweets to Schlee on 29. June 2019: (Schlee responded AFTER I tweeted to the press forcing Pret to announce Schlee’s “retirement”)
Then the Tweet congratulating Schlee to his retirement and Schlee’s response. And no, Schlee’s Twitter wasn’t busy, he wasn’t flooded with Tweets that he could have missed TWO customer Tweets from the day before:
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And then I thought I’d offer my services for free again and announce his retirement to the press so he doesn’t need to sweat and work so hard himself:
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The press then started tweeting this “news” after first confirming with Pret’s HQ, and after that Pret and Schlee made their official announcement themselves. I also wrote blog posts about Schlee’s “retirement” that day (while he started to hide as Non-Executive Director behind the scenes) and linked to UK Managing Director turned COO Pano Christou’s Twitter handle. The COO role did not exist before the Pret scandals and JAB took over. And it doesn’t exist now. It was just a stepping stone for Christou to become CEO. As Pret read my blog, that day on 01. July 2021 Christou deleted his Twitter account and retrieved to Linkedin.
But I had the honour that he blocked me before he ran off. I like it when these people block me because that way I can see that they’re read my Tweets/Blog! As I am blacklisted on social media and on Twitter at times shadow banned (censored, Tweets hidden) I can sometimes not tell if people got my Tweets, but when someone blocks me, I KNOW they’ve read my stuff! 😀
Clive Schlee didn’t and Pret doesn’t block me as I’m sure they want to collect any evidence should I raise a Tribunal claim again which can be done within 3 years and which was granted to me by the first preliminary Judge, or should Pret sue me. Be my guest!
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On July 1st 2019 Pret’s Pano Christou deleted his Twitter account and a few weeks later another “Pano Christou” from Canada took that handle.
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2. Clive Schlee – The Friendly “Ronald McDonald” of Pret A Manger
After confronting him on Twitter and all the shadow bans that didn’t work, I continued my “late night girl” shifts. On a side note, his £1000 announcement to all staff came on the day he found out about the “dot org” I’ve put behind his patronizing label. Clive Schlee’s Twitter account was shut down in July 2020. I don’t know the exact July date, but days before the 7th July 2020 his account was still there, I checked regularly as customers kept tweeting to him with questions, unaware he isn’t the CEO anymore. He still had the CEO “label” on his account while Christou was already CEO since September 2019. Clive Schlee also prematurely let Pano Christou take over Glassdoor Reviews as CEO in July 2019 while Christou wasn’t CEO yet, after a customer pointed out on Twitter of Schlee’s poor ratings on Glassdoor.
Yes, that’s Pret, very consistently blaming downwards and letting the lower position of COO take responsibility and play CEO on Glassdoor. 😀
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30. June 2019 a day before “retirement” announcement:
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12. July 2019 Pano Christou already placed on Glassdoor even while not officially CEO yet:
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July 2020:
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3. The Third Clown – Co-(re)-founder of Pret A Manger, founder and CEO of itsu: Julian Metcalfe who’s foot-in-mouth disease is even worse than his buddy Clive Schlee’s!
This gives me the greatest pleasure to have chased a net worth £215million CEO off Twitter who doesn’t blink twice in wanting thousands to die so he can keep accumulating his Millions.
I just let my YouTube slide do the explaining and bask in my Schadenfreude! Get the popcorn out, put the kettle on and enjoy! And never forget you have a VOICE to speak and see that these millionaires are just people who let their entitlement get the better of them, and in time always show their rotten core. And the only difference between you and them is that their toilet paper is just a little more expensive than yours!
»And when your sun goes down you’ll know, you’re like everybody else you know.«– Whitey
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UPDATE 2022
My small exposé on Metcalfe’s connections to the Royal Family and a questionable connection etc.: Julian Metcalfe Family Line.
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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.
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.
There are 2 conditions for which there is no cure:
Foot-in-mouth disease and stupidity. Arrogance is close behind!
So, £210 million man Julian Metcalfe actually had the balls (or one glass of wine too many) to come on Twitter for less than 24 hours and continue his rant in public. I anticipated that he’d delete some Tweets, but that he ran off that quickly was a surprise. Maybe he was drunk when he decided to hit the keyboard so publicly. And probably someone sensible, a certain PR[et] person pulled the plug! Too late Mr. Metcalfe, I’ve made screenshots!
I didn’t screenshot all of his contradicting Tweets, just the ones where he retweeted my Tweets and those that confirm how utterly uncaring, self-serving and arrogantly detached from reality this man is.
UPDATE December 2020 – I made a YouTube slide on below screenshots for easier view:
His second, follow-up Tweet confirms his comment to the Daily Mail of his survival-of-the-fittest mentality: “we cannot put forth the needs of the few over those of the many.”
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For anyone who still hasn’t heard, this is what Metcalfe said to the Daily Mail in response to UK’s second lock-down:
»Julian Metcalfe, the founder of Pret and Itsu, said another lockdown would be ‘impossible’, adding: ‘Society will not recover if we do it again to save a few thousand lives of very old or vulnerable people.«
After his first two Tweets which are NOT an apology, his third Tweet goes straight into HIS priorities, desperately trying to divert from his disastrous comments, mind you he NEVER apologized but re-emphasized his comments:
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My third Tweet to him where I wondered how long he will last on Twitter given that current Pret CEO Pano Christou deleted his Twitter account in July 2019 (after he blocked me) and former CEO Clive Schlee’s account was deleted in July 2020. I didn’t expect Metcalfe to quit that fast though. Quite something that a peasant little “late night girl” like me can bring THREE multi-million £ CEOs to quit Twitter!
Pano Christou’s Twitter account where he blocked me:
His Twitter account before he deleted it, his handle is now taken by another Pano Christou from Canada:
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And his page on 01. July 2019 before another Pano Christou took that handle:
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CEO Pano Christou is “hiding” on Linkedin where customers and low-wage staff most likely don’t mingle to confront him like they do on Twitter. Pano learnt from Clive Schlee’s Twitter mistakes. But Julian Metcalfe dug his grave on Twitter yesterday.
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And to my surprise Metcalfe started to retweet a number of my Tweets, especially after I linked him the Glassdoor reviews of his staff.
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After I linked him the Glassdoor reviews of accusations of him being sexist, a bully, creating panic etc., he really dared to respond with this:
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And his claim that his staff “begged” him for zero hour contracts is so disgusting, I’m still trying to find words …
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To which I responded:
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And a few other Tweets he posted. But the one that topped it for me is:
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If THAT Tweet didn’t put the nail in his coffin, I don’t know what will.
Now either Metcalfe didn’t know who I am, or he approached my Tweets in his lofty way assuming he can just pull his sexist, patronizing number on me before being educated and urged to stop. He deleted some of his Tweets and later his account.
One of his Tweets I didn’t screenshot where he said that the Daily Mail took his comment out of context. My question which he never responded to of course:
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Keep tweeting Mr. Metcalfe. Keep tweeting.
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I tweeted to him a thread of staff reviews on Glassdoor that were posted at different dates, as he says that reviews are biased and can be written by anyone anonymously. That’s a fair point, but then the positive reviews can be biased, too. It works both ways if it was the case of fake reviews. Here are only the few reviews from 2018 – 2020 I troubled myself to post to him as screenshots, in no particular order.
I linked to the list of those reviews. Press ctrl & + (plus sign) to enlarge the images:
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Concerning staff “begging” him for zero hour contracts:
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“The founder. The biggest con.An irrational bully who uses intimidation and lies to get his own way.” …
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UPDATE:
Julian Metcalfe has a second Twitter account as @JulianMetcalfe_. It’s not clear if he started this simultaneously or before/after his @JulianEMetcalfe account was opened AND closed in one day. I doubt he’ll return to continue spreading his thoughts minus an apology. But it’s always worth a try.
I listened to a BBC interview of Metcalfe where by his own admission he said (at about 19:18 or with the interviewer’s question from about 18:40 on) that he wasn’t a good employee and that he was quite disobedient.
Need to be registered/logged in to the BBC to hear the interview. He plays stupid a lot in that interview, but I hope his low-wage staff who are exploited for his net worth of £210 million, hear this his words and show him the finger. I lost even further respect for Metcalfe. Spoiled, privileged prat!
And just as a reminder what Metcalfe said to the Daily Mail days ago:
»Julian Metcalfe, the founder of Pret and Itsu, said another lockdown would be ‘impossible’, adding: ‘Society will not recover if we do it again to save a few thousand lives of very old or vulnerable people.«
And regarding Pret A Manger’s treatment of staff, just a few of the many staff reviews I put on a YouTube slide. I listed many more complaints on Pret’s bullying culture on “Caught in the Act at Pret A Manger“.
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.
Bullied during bereavement in Pret A Manger 
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