…. another open letter.
Upfront to any new reader and reader outside of Pret and itsu, I write so blunt below after 1. how I was spoken to over the years in Pret by management and 2. due to the ongoing unsafe and plain dangerous food practices in Pret, and from the customer complaints also at itsu.
Just the tip of the iceberg of food poisoning reports from different countries:
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To Pano Christou and Sinclair Beecham – Pret, (same for Julian Metcalfe and Clive Schlee, itsu)
Countless food poisoning reports, including hospitalisations. Again!
You can try and shut me down every day, it doesn’t matter.
You might not agree with the follwoing, but PTSD, in my case has led me to write the way I write about your pretentious, arrogant, entitled, delusional leadership of Pret A Manger.
While other PTSD sufferers go on a shooting spree, I go on Pret-exposing spree. You will not close down, but your leadership will only be an “inspiration” to young people who are too inexperienced to understand what your game is.
The rest of us don’t respect you.
To the current CEO of Pret A Manger Pano Christou and Sinclair Beecham, Pret RE-co-founder, and in my opinion the “secret CEO” of Pret. I also copied now newly itsu CEO Clive Schlee and his boss Julian Metcalfe in.
Side-note, Sinclair Beecham and Julian Metcalfe don’t want you to know about Jeffrey Hyman, the founder of Pret.
You all had a lot of support, luck, ignorance of people (especially journalists) regarding poisoning your customers. I know from experience, that you won’t do anything regarding your customers continuously getting injured. I know from experience that you don’t give a FUCK about your customers, and even less, about your staff (£800,000 fine for staff in freezer for 2 hours 45 minutes and the bullying culture).
You can try and shut me down as usual, I don’t give a flip. My work, or the worms, are out all over the place. And I also passed on everything to close friends.
I understand that you are what I call, “private equity slaves”, but that is neither my problem nor are you exempt from refraining from safety measures regarding the safety of your customers.
If customers AND staff are the collateral damage for your greed, and you feel safe relying on politicians and the Royal Family, keep doing that while you can. 🙂
It’s the small voices that will kick your ass. The press are not interested, it’s too much work for them. And the previous Tory government has cut services to the bone that there are hardly EHOs left to check on the multitude of food businesses. Lucky you.
But I cannot be prouder to do what I do after WASTING years of my life in your sh!t company.
Like Cher sings, “If I could turn back time” … I for one would never have wanted to set foot inside your toxic, dangerous, unsafe, psychopatic company Pret A Manger. My mistake was to give this place too many benefits of a doubt. I survived this pathetic “corporation” that is on a limp regarding safety, but they WILL SUCCEED to get away with more deaths and injuries.
The Ednan-Laperouse family might have forgiven you, like multi-millionaire, Caucasian brothers and sister do for you Pret, but you continue to poison people. Any SMALL independtn business, especially if it’s run by a minority person/people would be shut down in a heartbeat with ONE customer death or injuries so severe like they keep happening in Pret. But Pret seems to be too big to be drawn to responsibility and I fear that more people will die from the severe food poisoning they suffer (see video below).
I say this again, and I don’t care what you’ll do, you Pano Christou, Julian Metcalfe, Clive Schlee, Sinclair Beecham … you all are entitled PSYCHOPATHS! You don’t give a toss how people suffer. Even when your customers AND staff die, NOTHING happens. Business as usual.
You push your low-wage, and like itsu your zero-hour contracted workers so hard that they have NO CHANCE to look after food safety as well as safety for staff. Pret, Pano Christou, you STEAL wages and even use your low-wage staff as a bank where you loan money from so you can accumulate bonus for yourselves. Not to mention pushing them to work overtime for free. EXHAUSTED workers and a toxic work environment BREEDS unsafe and dangerous food practices. How many more have to die?!
Julian Metcalfe trying to hold me for a fool that his workers “begged” him for zero-hour contracts! What a clown! Anyone who has the luxury to be flexible with their time doesn’t need to be slaving for sh!t companies like itsu or Pret.
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This 2022 DM by a Pret staff about TWO pay delays also happened around 2012 when I worked at Pret and Clive Schlee was CEO with Pano Christou UK Managing Director.
When this 2. pay delay was announced just before the Queen’s Jubilee where the public and press were distracted, a staff on Instagram announced to sabotage Pret after a customer voiced concern for the staff.
The staff starts with, quote, “Don’t worry. We already drastically reduced food and service quality.”
I COMPLETELY DISagree with EVER compromising food quality and safety, but don’t kid yourself that how a company treats their staff, it WILL come back to bite customers!
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All this, how staff are treated, cheated and pushed to work more and faster for less leads to further food safety issues. Cheating on standards to fullfil the unrealistic tasks set by Pret for more and more and more money.
READ the complaints, reports and reviews of customers from every country who suffers with food poisoning.
You put on your “charming” smile and pretentious slogans while running away when people drop like flies. Looking at you Clive Schlee, you pathetic coward!
Schlee shouldn’t be anywhere near a CEO position anymore! Clive Schlee, you already half own itsu, go home, live your “retirement” and spare people of your fake “kindness”.
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And so on … but I concentrate on Pret in the video below. Unfortunately “someone” got all the negative reviews of Julian Metcalfe deleted off Glassdoor that itsu staff left, but I still have the screenshots. You executives can get things deleted all day long, as long as you DON’T CHANGE your food safety and employment practices from the core, these reviews, reports, complaints will continue. You will NEVER be able to whitewash your practices.
Julian Metcalfe’s deleted Tweets and Glassdoor reviews from 2021:
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You all have already carved out your “legacy”. It doesn’t matter how many stores you open across the globe, in the long-run, people will ALWAYS look at the fish that stinks from its head.
For the record, I will always be offended for Pret having a laugh about food safety, while I took it serious to the point I never got promoted because I never cheated.
Fuck Pret A Manger and their entitled psychopathic “leadership”.
Prêt à Vomir … Prêt à Mourir … ongoing food poisoning at Pret A Manger.
READ these reports!!! READ THEM!!!
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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 (shops) in 2024 by Julian Metcalfe who gave him the CEO gig 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
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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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