Pret a Manger (French for ready to eat) is an international sandwich shop franchise chain based in the United Kingdom, popularly referred to as Pret. Founded in 1983, Pret currently has over 460 shops in the UK, with 324 locations in London alone.

Jeffrey Hyman founded the first Pret a Manger in London on 21 October 1983. The first Pret A Manger shop opened in Hampstead, London, in 1984. The name Prêt à Manger was based on prêt-à-porter, French for “ready-to-wear” clothing.

Opening in June 1983, the company traded at 58 Hampstead High Street for 18 months at which time takings had dropped to below break-even point and the company went into liquidation. The name and visual branding were purchased from the company liquidator David Rubin by college friends Sinclair Beecham and Julian Metcalfe.

Beecham and Metcalfe started a new operation, using the Pret A Manger name purchased from the former company’s liquidator. They opened their first Pret A Manger in July 1986, located at 75b Victoria Street in London. Beecham and Metcalfe met while studying at university.

The pair developed the chain’s menu of handmade natural food, prepared in shop kitchens, and they remain significant shareholders in the company.

In 1995, Metcalfe and Beecham set up the Pret Foundation Trust with the aim of alleviating poverty in the UK. The Trust receives donations from the sale of products and collection boxes in shops. The donations fund Pret’s “Charity Run” vans which deliver unsold food to homeless shelters at the end of each day.

The first shop outside of London was opened on Broad Street, New York, in 2000.[18] In 2016, there were 74 Pret shops in the United States.

In 2001, McDonald’s bought a 33% non-controlling stake in the company, which they sold in 2008 to the private equity firm Bridgepoint Capital.

The company opened its first shop in France in 2012, and had a total of 19 shops in France in 2016.

In June 2016, the company opened an all-vegetarian branch in Soho, London, which was popular enough to lead to a second all-veggie branch in the Shoreditch neighbourhood.

In 2016, its group sales were £776 million.

On 29 May 2018, JAB Holding Company announced that it would acquire Pret A Manger from Bridgepoint. The acquisition was completed in September 2018.

In May 2019, Pret bought rival chain Eat for an undisclosed sum – originally planning to convert many branches into Veggie Pret shops