I want to dissect a talk and interview Pano Christou did a few months ago with the same robotic slogans Pret use to continue fooling the public, the press and the business world.
I will pick out some sentences and directly link to them (blue underlined) and then show what is REALLY happening.
For new readers who don’t know my story and the reality of Pret, I write so blunt after how I (and colleagues in general) was treated in Pret for years, especially once I became bereaved and how the top leadership and HQ were involved.
From here on I write Pano Christou as PC. Everything he says, every slogan is a mantra, a repeat, a brainwash Pret repeat over and over again, and what Crisis Report UK called “doubling down”. After the customer deaths and injuries with Pret’s appalling lack of action, instead of rethinking their true business, Pret doubled down on them and continued to make these claims.
I show WHY these claims are bullsh!t.
.
The Beginnings of Pret
Pano Christou (PC) starts off with the same brainwash and refusal to mention nor honour the late Jeffrey Hyman, who opened the first Pret store in 1983 in Hampstead. It ran for a while but then closed again. Sinclair Beecham and Julian Metcalfe then bought the name, concept etc. and RE-founded Pret in 1986 Victoria. That’s why across my blog and socials I always refer to them as RE-co-founders.
A friend of Hyman who paid tribute to Hyman’s anniversary of his death, even told me that Pret allegedly got someone to keep changing the Wikipedia entry to delete Hyman. The person then got banned from Wiki and Hyman remains on that page.
After Hyman wasn’t removed from Wiki anymore, Pret around 2019/2020-ish started putting “London 1986” on cups and above shop entrances to keep brainwashing the public.
.
.
.
.
Understaffing
In September 2024 Pret had 700 shops worldwide and as of November 2025 have approx. 720-ish shops plus minus.
The number PC gives of staff in September 2024 is 13,500 which is crazy understaffed as Pret had about 500 shops worldwide in 2018 but 12,000 staff.
Now, Pret have always understaffed, even in my time, but it’s even worse now, especially seeing the staff AND customer reviews on various platforms.
Numbers from 2024: .
.
Little side-note: Of course Pret have more female than male workers, women are always more in service work than men. But he pretends this means that Pret is female friendly. See the front of my website and scroll down to just some of the screenshots about sexual advancements towards females. I worked with female assistant managers and managers who got to their position via the bedroom. With some it was an open secret. This exists in every company, but especially in low-wage companies.
He mentions that he has 2/3 females in his executive team. First of all, that’s low; secondly one of these, Claire Clough UK Managing Director, just resigned, and PC has still to announce a new UK MD (as of November 2025).
My guess is, unless JAB Holdings axed her, or she resigned for personal reasons, with Pret having lost a third of their value and owners JAB considering IPO or selling Pret, Clough might have smelled the coffee and jumped the sinking ship.
The Pret Foundation that PC mentions to “alleviate homelessness (and poverty like he said before)” is what companies do to get more funds and tax-breaks. I write about the Pret Foundation and how it not only did NOT help me as a long-time Pret staff once I became bereaved and reached out to Pret, but they just about do a few things to present to the public while exploiting the workforce and work to get rid of bereaved people and those with mental disabilities. There are plenty of reviews and social media accounts on this as well as my own experience.
I write in another post about Pano Christou’s audacity to cut staff wages during the pandemic, while PC got pay-rises, millions in bonus and tax payer’s ยฃ50 million injection. Then he does a half marathon in Hackney to “alleviate poverty” while cutting staff pay, and straight AFTER he cut staff wages asked the staff for donations for his Pret Foundation marathon. This man has no self-awareness and shame whatsoever!
On a staff reviews video I incorporated an outcry by Loose Women presenter Nadia Sawalha on her 500,000+ followings Instagram account, when she learnt that Pret made temporary wage cuts permanent. Her stern words to reached a lot of people. She only made a minor numbers mistake where she said that Pret wanted to cut 11% off ยฃ8.91
Pret always pay a few pennies above minimum wage to appear generous. But workers who are lured in don’t realize that they have to work triple for this, will be on the same pay for years to come except for the government minimum wage rise. And staff also get coerced and fear managed to regularly work overtime without pay, as well as having to chase their correct hours worked in pay almost weekly.
Then during the pandemic Pret made the previous “temporarily” pay cuts permanent and cut that pay down TO THE minimum wage of ยฃ8.91 at the time (2021). Nadia just mixed up the numbers, but her message is still vital as up until then, she assumed Pret were one of the good guys. And up until then about the speed of service, Nadia didn’t know about the mystery shopper 60 seconds rule. It’s worth hearing her whole message.
.
.
Be Kind, Honest, Generous?
PC is asked here about the work culture in Pret and shares the usual bull-crap that if you work hard you get noticed. Bullsh!t. If you work hard in Pret, you get exploited. If you cheat and partake in the toxic culture, you get promoted. The Pret “Academy” is a joke as staff are not trained there, but rather indoctrinated. And a former Development Manager from the “Academy”, Lila Warren was put on my case to find out the right time to fire me as I kept raising issues of bullying and other things and was traumatised.
PC with this brainwash to work hard to get noticed is just the age-old lie by corporate executives to drive people to work their butts off for little reward, hoping that “one day” … and that day will never come for most.
Everyone from HQ and HR who was part of my ordeal is now gone from Pret, so Pret can say that these people don’t work there anymore. When Private Equity takes over, they usually get rid of people. They get rid of “sacred cows”.
What PC says looks good on paper, but reality is very different, especially the training is not good and staff have to train themselves via iPads on their own time on unpaid breaks or at home. I and many I worked with was never trained properly.
And training managers to teach and allow people to be authentic is the biggest bullsh!t Pano Christou says. Here is just the tip of the iceberg on reviews from shop managers, OPS manager, even head office staff including how poorly they think of Pano Christou.
PC talking about the right environment for happy service is another joke. 72% of reviews on Trustpilot (1 & 2 stars combined) are unhappy with Pret, many on the service and atmosphere in shops DESPITE Pret having weekly mystery shopper visits.
I was leaked information that Pret at times delete the bonus and cash reward. So, staff who are even more over worked, understaffed and hardly receive rewards lost morale. And this reflects on review websites and on social media comments.
And I remember in my times, every time Pret held a summer and winter party, costing them thousands of pounds, many shops in the immediate week after the parties didn’t get bonus despite knowing for sure that everything went well. Some started wondering if Pret are taking our bonuses to pay for the parties. At the time I told my colleagues, “don’t be silly…” But now I believe that, after all the other wage theft, hours missing, overtimes not paid, pay delays etc. all on an ongoing basis everywhere.
Trustpilot reviews on Pret marked as “Poor” (as of mid November 2025):
.
.
The Pret “Joy” Brainwash
This whole thing about spreading joy is a typical Pret facade to appear happy and friendly, enforced by strict weekly mystery shopper visits that Pret refused to mention before I called them out on it. Staff suffer with mental health issues and strain while forced to appear happy and joyful.
Pret do what they call a “buddy day”, where they send ONCE a year a staff from head office into a shop to work there for a day. He says here in this video that Pret do this twice a year, but that’s not true. In my 10 years in 30+ shops, there was either only ONCE a year a “buddy” coming from HQ or none at all.
And when they came, it was more a burden for us because they came at 8 or 9am instead of our usual 5am start. They started with breakfast and after doing a few things stood around or fiddled on their mobile phones. We were always glad when they left as we had to slow down and managers had to behave and act friendly towards us staff where they normally where rude and overbearing.
He claims that he learns so much and goes back to the office with a list of things to change. Well, why are there no changes and the toxic, overbearing culture continues Mr. CEO?
The idea is good on paper, but flawed and dishonest in practice.
And the “values” and behaviours (PC here cleverly doesn’t mention the behaviours) I have put on another blog post after Pret DELETED them off their website when journalist Timothy Noah criticised these. The happy teams / happy customers brainwash clearly doesn’t exist as can be seen in the Trustpilot and other reviews as well as staff reviews and social media comments.
And PC here saying that he loves when people come to him to tell him about issues is also a joke. I approached HR with suggestions once I became bereaved, and from then on had a target on my back. This reached the highest levels in Pret that Pret ended up offering me money if I sign a NDA to never speak about my ordeal. I declined and write here.
And putting shops and teams first should go without saying. Shops and teams are THE reason for Pret to exist in the first place. But the “happiness” does not come from Pret treating staff well, it comes from the strict, micromanaging mystery shopper scheme that penalise the whole team when one staff doesn’t smile.
And of course the CEO and executives love to walk into shops and present themselves as such important entitled bosses to scare the teams on top of mystery shoppers.
Again, repeat, staff smile BECAUSE of strict mystery shopper penalties and extra cash, NOT because Pret care for the staff.
Pret is short for pretentious.
Here is the most poignant former staff review (from Indeed) I’ve found and it remains my favourite review as I still feel the pain and after effect of what that person wrote. That review used to have 55 yes and 3 no votes, but Indeed deleted / hid all these votes. I wouldn’t be surprised if Pret reached out to debate the voting system. But I still have a screenshot of this review with the votes.
I dedicated a whole slide on this one review as this shares in a nutshell how excruciating it is to work in Pret and the mental suffering even after work at home. I underline every word.
.
.
Never Standing Still
This part has always bothered me greatly that Pret put into their Values and Behaviours booklet. PC explains nothing really helpful about their demand for staff to “never stand still“, so let me explain why Pret want staff to constantly keep moving.
For one, this is so staff appear engaged in their work instead of exhausted and bored, which to Pret in particular is extreme compared to any other hospitality company I’ve ever worked in. I worked in all kinds of hospitality in three countries since I was 16 years old, and even with 14/15 helped out in the kitchen of a local pub to top up my pocket money. But I have NEVER ever experienced such strain, dishonesty, bullsh!t games, toxic culture than in Pret.
People ask, “why did you stay so long?”
For one, I was used to hard work in this brutal industry and was like a trained athlete holding out under extreme work conditions. And two, I was brainwashed in Pret to think things will get better the higher I climb the “ladder”. Plus, during bereavement and trauma I had no-where to go. I couldn’t sell myself to a new employer as I was severely traumatised while still functioning very well. I stayed with the devil, Pret, that I knew, rather than go to a new devil that I didn’t know.
Secondly, staff that never stand still, especially in an already stressful, noisy, hot environment, get so incredibly exhausted that they have no time to think for themselves and stand up against this toxic, exploitative work environment. This is very typical for low-wage companies. Keep staff exhausted so they don’t have the strength to question things and stand up against it. Watch / read that slide here above with the blue writings. It truly is THE best description of Pret inhumane work conditions.
It is borderline modern-day slavery type of demand. If you stand still you WILL get reprimanded! And don’t you even dare to stop smiling while we exhaust you.
.
.
Link to a recent ex-staff review which I completely underline from own and colleagues experience. Many people on Trustpilot write with their own names, and have a mix of positive and negtaive reviews, like Miriam here has. For information, I do not know this person, I am just monitoring news and updates on anything Pret related.
Miriam’s full review for people with visual impairment where programs cannot read screenshots. Quote verbatim of review from 27. October 2025:
Title: scammers, Never work for this company
ยปNever work for this company; they’re scammers. They steal money from your paycheck, don’t pay you for the hours you work, and don’t answer emails. One of the worst companies I’ve ever worked for. They require you to work hard and then refuse to pay you what you’re owed. In some cafeterias, they leave the staff alone, and you can’t get proper breaks.ยซ
End of quote.
.
Pret’s “Misery” Shopper Scheme
PC is asked about the service and mystery shopper scheme which until I wrote about it from 2018/19 on, Pret refused to mention in public, pretending staff are “naturally” happy and smiley. I renamed the mystery shopper to “misery” shopper for a reason! The weekly mystery shopper visit, the outer appearance / facade of Pret, is THE SOLE focus for Pret via managers, pushing staff to smile, love-bomb, serve within 1 minute, clean fast etc. as a lot of their quarterly bonuses rely on it.
Pano Christou here is very clever in avoiding to answer the question on HOW the misery shopper actually works, so he diverts to franchises and percentage numbers. So, I will explain how staff are fear- and micromanaged via weekly mystery shoppers.
I was even reprimanded in the office when the mystery shopper commented that I didn’t smile, despite also commenting that I was polite and efficient. The mystery shopper didn’t know that I just buried my brother, but Pret and my managers knew. There was no mercy.
Here are 3 consecutive slides of excerpts on what Pret demands from staff. Some of these reports are older, at times Pret change the phrasing or some questions, but the core of their demands is the same: make Pret appear happy and generous, no matter what.
Keep playing the slide to part 2 and then part 3. If it doesn’t play automatically within this player, click on the YouTube sign to link to the playlist to go to the other parts:
.
.
Doing the Right Thing???
Before Pret were banned in 2018 from advertising their food as “natural”, as this was one of many lies, Pret had a slogan on their website, marketing and even HR (people team) to be “doing the right thing naturally – it’s what makes Pret, Pret”.
I always felt disgusted at this slogan, as it’s the audacity to make these claims while ignoring staff bereavements and other staff illnesses (not paying for the first 3 days even with a sick note), customer deaths and injuries, even call-outs for a faulty freezer door handle resulting in staff getting trapped for over 2.5 hours fighting for survival getting Pret fined ยฃ800,000 in 2023 etc. etc. etc. At least they scrapped the “naturally”.
Regarding pay, Pret have a lot of loopholes and tricks in place to avoid paying workers, one is to “train” a team member for let’s say barista role, but then the manager delays sending them to training days to avoid raising the pay. And once they do go to training courses, they delay “graduation” to again avoid the final pay rise for that position. Not to mention all the other dodgy ways to avoid paying as I linked already above and Pret were called out several times in the press, lawsuits and by the government.
.
.
.
.
.
.
NEW Class-action Lawsuit coming up AGAIN!
.
It is beyond me how people, especially journalists, just believe everything Pret say without looking any closer, and even forgetting fast about their neglect to act after customers died. It took the deaths to become public for Pret to act. Not before. It took Pret TWO YEARS to apologise to the Ednan-Laperouse family that suffered the first customer death of their daughter/sister Natasha.
Pano Christou was UK Managing Director when customers died and got injured. He was the right hand man of then CEO Clive Schlee who “retired” from Pret in 2019 after public pressure including my blog. Schlee is Christou’s mentor and remains involved with the Pret Foundation, and since November 2024 is CEO of itsu which he partially owns. Retirement my a**se.
Little side note: In my post The Day Clive Schlee had a Bright Idee I explain the timing of Schlee’s ยฃ1000 announcement. He made that announcement in the night from 28. to 29. May 2018 when he and Pret were made aware of my blog by Sannukka Nevala, who was my OPs manager for a while, whom I sent a link to my blog. Schlee then quickly made the ยฃ1000 announcement after 1am on 29. May 2018 after I sent the link of my blog to Sannukka Nevala late in the evening on 28. May 2018.
I sent my blog to Nevala because I knew she can’t keep a secret.
And the 29. May 2018 remained the most visited day for over a year as Pret were made aware of my blog, them visiting and Schlee then quickly making the panic move that he always did, to announce ยฃ1000 to all staff to try and counter ahead of time once the press and public become aware of my blog. What a clown! ๐
The 29th May was the best views for about a year until my blog grew.
.
.
.
.
.
.
It didn’t help Schlee with the Glassdoor scores as staff always spill the coffee beans on the reality of Pret. And Schlee then quickly got Pano Christou placed on Glassdoor in July 2019 despite Schlee’s retirement date of September 2019.
Schlee’s last month on Glassdoor: 30. June 2019 before retiring in September 2019:
.
.
Pano Christou already on Glassdoor in July 2019 despite officially not yet being CEO until September 2019 – Clive Schlee in true Pret fashion passing the buck downwards and jumping ship. What a Captain! ๐
.
.
Pano Christou’s Glassdoor scores as of mid November 2025, SIX YEARS after he started as CEO – not as bad as Pret’s Trustpilot scores, though. ๐
.
.
And PC mentioning in the video that Pret have employees from many different ethnic backgrounds, LGBTQ+ etc., of course. All companies, especially low-wage employers in London especially have this. But in Pret most high paid Caucasian employees work in head office, and as OPs and shop managers. Most of these are from the UK, Germany, France etc. Most workers with ethnic background, especially from Eastern Europe and black, brown staff work in kitchens and shops.
I’ve been to head office many times, the contrast in ethnic background between high paid staff at HQ and low-wage workers in shops couldn’t be clearer. And British people often get either a rejection or no response at all to their job applications for shops. Pret don’t want British people in shops, they work too slow (compared to people from Eastern Europe who work like machines) and Brits know their rights too well, also wanting more pay.
And when itsu founder Julian Metcalfe behaved in such a media-savvy way to retweet my tweets where I threw itsu staff reviews at him, he deleted his Twitter account and now these Glassdoor reviews of him being accused of being sexist, aggressive etc. these Glassdoor reviews DISSAPPEARED. Yep, companies seem to just contact review websites to get reviews hidden/deleted. But I still have those and spread them across the Internet, no matter how much Pret & Co try to shut me down.
I’ve put them here as well:
.
.
My small exposรฉ on Metcalfe, his love for zero hour contracts and robots, life-long connection to the Royal family, a questionable connection (Jeffrey Epstein), what staff say about him, how suddenly all the negative reviews about him on Glassdoor disappeared after I sent it to him, why some Asian people don’t like him etc.
When Schlee was still CEO of Pret, to me he was the Ronald McDonald Clown of Pret. The friendly face to fool the public. Pano Christou I call “Panocchio” ๐คฅ for all the dishonesty of Pret.
Itsu now is mainly owned by Private Equity firm Bridgepoint that owned Pret between 2008 and 2018 making a sh!tload of money, squeezing the hell out of us staff. But JAB Holdings / Reimann family is even worse.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Doing the right thing naturally according to Natasha Ednan-Laperouse’s parents:
.
.
I explain across my blog that in 2017, about 11 months, almost a year after Natasha died, and after in 2015 Pret also were sued in New York by a man who landed in hospital ALSO from sesame and other customers’ injuries, Pret put on a seminar in the Barbican. But the training sessions were in the upstairs rooms and amphitheatre for a week (or it was 2 weeks, can’t remember, but certainly a week). All shop managers, assistant managers and team leaders had to take turns from areas to attend a few hours on a designated day to “learn” about customer service.
Invite email to the “seminar”. Press CTRL and + (plus) to enlarge the screenshot:
.
.
The slogan / title of this seminar was “Be Kind, Honest, Generous”.
A tweet by someone mentioning the “kind, honest, generous” that the Development department put on. Named here is Sarah Bohn who now also left Pret like so many from the old guard. Bohn was one of the note takers on my grievance hearings I raised against leaders who targeted me. She was as toxic as many in the HR and training departments. She blocked me on Twitter early on. So far to being kind, honest and generous.
.
.
It was basically just the same old, same old: how to love-bomb customers and that we had to stop calling customers sir or madam as some got upset being mis-gendered.
Again, this was a year AFTER Natasha died. There was NO MENTION WHATSOEVER about a customer death and several injuries up until then. Nothing whatsoever. There was no emphasis on allergen or labelling,. NOTHING!!!
This is Pret “doing the right thing naturally”!
We just were told the same thing to love-bomb customers, stop saying sir/madam and other childish bull-crap we already knew about. We were told to bring back what was “taught” in the seminar to the rest of the team members in the shops. We of course didn’t, because we didn’t learn anything new and were under extreme scrutiny every week by mystery shoppers. We laughed about “be kind, honest, generous” as we knew Pret wasn’t. And where was Pret’s kindness, honesty and generosity in information about customer fatality and injuries.
WHERE WAS PRET BEING KIND …
and honest and generous to customers to inform them about Natasha’s death and multiple injuries before AND after Natasha’s death?
Where was Pret’s “kindness” and honesty about Celia Marsh, the 2. customer who died?
Celia Marsh’s death and Isobel Colnaghi’s narrow survival in 2017 was just another “generosity” of Pret.
Where was Pret’s “generosity” with “honest” information to prevent further deaths and injuries while bullying staff to smile?
.
And where was Pret’s generosity to invest in labelling to prevent further deaths and injuries?
If Pret would have informed the public, implemented change, I firmly believe Celia Marsh, the 2. customer who died in 2017 would be alive! She would have avoided Pret or Pret would have implemented change. But nopes, “doing the right thing” for Pret meant, full steam ahead, profit over lives.
And this was under Bridgepoint, before JAB took over. And under JAB Pret were fined ยฃ800,000 ($1 million) in 2023 after ignoring for 19 months faulty freezer door call-outs. Staff kept getting trapped for a few minutes, until a staff got trapped for over 2.5 hours in 2021 fighting for her life. She just wore a short sleeve T-shirt and had no mobile phone with her as Pret don’t allow staff carrying their phones with them.
I explain in my ยฃ800K post WHY this staff member was never missed by her colleagues for 2 hours 45 minutes.
The customer fatalities and injuries is still one of my biggest upsets about it all. I was a Team Leader with part of my job description having been health and safety, and I took that very serious. I was known by my teams and managers for being overly careful and strict on health and safety issues, even throwing out hundreds of pounds (in ยฃ money) of food and drink per shift when it was below the safe temperatures due to broken fridges in over-heated shops during the summer etc.
My managers hated me for that, but couldn’t do anything as I followed procedure. And even then my shops often became top shop and in the top 10 of all shops. I got never promoted beyond team leader position mind you, as I followed procedure and refused to cheat on expiry dates etc. But I slept well at nights. But NOT being told about customer deaths, Pret NOT closing shops to implement changes could have potentially caused me and my colleagues to injure further or even cause death to customers on our shifts.
I speak about this in detail on my podcast.
And regarding food waste / donations, a lot of Pret’s food at the end of the day either gets SOLD via the Too Good To Go (TGTG) app, even the hot food that Pret told us BEFORE the pandemic to not even give for free to charity due to safety issues. Since the pandemic profit losses, Pret grab more money than ever. Food safety out the window. Again.
Too Good To Go blocked me on Twitter for pointing out the safety issues to them. At least they can’t claim to not know concerns, should customers get food poisoned. I keep all the receipts.
.
.
.
And whatever is not sold via TGTG is thrown away if no unpaid volunteer from charities pick it up.
.
.
Customers post pictures and videos of Pret’s food waste in the streets in various countries:
.
.
Pano Christou’s Self-Admiration
In September 2025 Pano Christou posted a picture on his Facebook. This photo is from the early 2010s when he was UK MD. I remember this picture very well because it was plastered everywhere on Pret’s intranet regarding Christou. He also uses a photo where the backdrop is Pret’s old logo with “Natural” food on it for which Pret got banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in 2018.
.
His Facebook account as of mid November 2025 has 130 friends. When Clive Schlee โretiredโ from Pret in Sep. 2019 his Twitter account remained until July 2020 as “CEO of Pret”, as if he couldnโt let go. It was closed down in the beginning of July 2020.
With PC’s 2010’s photo of himself as UK MD posted on his Facebook in Sep. 2025 is an indication to me that he misses “the old times” and is lost at the top of the lonely CEO spot.
But what is even more pathetic and sad is that Pano Christou LIKED his own picture. And as of 14.11.2025 updating this post, no-one has liked his picture.
Pano Christou, maybe it’s time to resign and look for a better workplace, so you won’t look so lost at the top spot while stealing wages and ignoring safety issues, the last public issue being a staff almost dying in a freezer.
I took photos of the screen as screenshots now don’t capture the dates when hovering over it.
.
.
.
.
The Beginning of the End of Pret?
I don’t think so. What may happen is that Pret get sold again and handed to the next Private Equity “pimp” to squeeze whatever is left of Pret. Pret lost a third of their value (or current owners JAB Holdings under the Reimann family, over-valued Pret in 2018) and are over ยฃ500 million in debt, which is normal for Private Equity. In 2024 RE-co-founder Sinclair Beecham returned to Pret to help fix the mess, as in my opinion from knowing a bit of Pano Christou (PC), the CEO is too busy portraying himself as this great dude and repeats the same slogans in a robotic brainwash to continue fooling the public. Pret have lost favour with the mainstream press, so Pano Christou does his rounds on small unknown business podcasts. He truly seems dissociated from reality.
At least he removed the “Lovingly handmade in this kitchen today” bullsh!t in a high stress, toxic, bullying environment with a fake happiness enforced by weekly “misery” shoppers.
.
Crisis Report UK on Pret’s Neglect
Last, but certainly not least, a recent video by a new YouTube channel that already has thousands of subscribers early on. It sounds AI generated, and unfortunately a lot of issues are missing like the ยฃ800,000 fine after Pret yet again ignored safety issues and a staff almost died in a walk-in freezer. But whoever did this video, and even while using AI voice, did a great job.
A little clickbaity title, but nevertheless good piece overall.
On my podcast I added a few more issues and expanded on some things.
The conclusion of Pano Christou’s interview and speech for me is either, he is deeply delusional or right out lying, or both. I leave it to the reader to ponder on this.
Support small independent businesses and join a union. Always.
.
.
.
I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now โretiredโ 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 โMy Ordeal with Pret A Mangerโ. 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.
ยฉ2017 โ Present: expret.org
Interview:
(Please be aware that the player shows 0:00 but just press play)
.
.
Unless otherwise stated or linked to, this website and all writings within this site are the property of expret.org and are protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. Reproduction and distribution of my writings without written permission is prohibited.
ยฉ2017 โ Present: expret.org unless otherwise stated. All Rights reserved. Disclaimer.
Pano Christo (left), Clive Schlee
David Carter, HR Fixer
From a 2016 
Glassdoor July 2019
One of my many articles about and to Clive Schlee, one of which I dedicate to his farewell gift:
Bullied during bereavement in Pret A Manger 
You must be logged in to post a comment.