(Bloomberg) -- Pret A Manger has scrapped its coffee subscription that gave customers “free” drinks, unwinding an offer launched during the pandemic to get people back through its doors.
The coffee and sandwich chain is ditching the five-free drinks per day deal, which cost customers £30 ($39) a month, and is replacing it with an offer of five drinks at half price for £10 per month. A previous 20% discount on food for its Club Pret members will also be axed.
The changes come as Pret tries to navigate changing working habits after Covid. The company launched the plan to get customers back into its stores during the pandemic when more people began to work from home and changed their coffee-buying habits. However, some customers complained that the subscription couldn’t be used in service stations or abroad, and that the chain got rid of smoothies and frappes.
The two-price system on food is “something we never really got comfortable with,” Clare Clough, Pret’s managing director for the UK and Ireland, said in a statement.
The price of a Club Pret subscription cost £20 per month when first launched, but rose to £30 per month last April.
Rival chain Leon launched its own rival coffee subscription in May, also offering subscribers five hot drinks a day and 20% off breakfast and lunch items, at a cheaper monthly price of £25.
Pret’s new subscription system comes into effect from September and will start at a discounted price of £5 per month for both existing and new subscribers before rising to £10 next April.
The chain also announced price drops bringing its Arabica filter coffee down to 99p and its all butter croissants to £1.99.
In April, Pret, which is owned by JAB Holdings, announced a shakeup of its board that saw Sinclair Beecham return to the company he co-founded, as it looks abroad for expansion.
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