Coronavirus: Pret to start selling coffee beans on Amazon from next week

Edmund Heaphy
·Finance and news reporter
Updated ·2 min read
A view of a window and logo of a Pret A Manger, in London, Tuesday, May 29, 2018. The British Sandwich shop chain is being taken over by German controlled investment group JAB Holding Company in a deal worth more that 1.5 billion pounds sterling. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
A Pret A Manger outlet in London. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

Sandwich chain Pret A Manager, known for its cheap coffee offerings on the high street, will begin selling three different types of coffee on Amazon from 18 May.

The coffee, which will be available as whole beans or in pre-ground form, will include Pret’s house blend of beans from Peru, Honduras, Sumatra, and Ethiopia.

It will also include single-origin coffee beans from Peru, the company said.

The announcement, which marks the first time that customers can make Pret coffee at home, comes as the chain said that more than 100 of its UK outlets would be open for takeaway and delivery from Monday.

Pret said that its stores now have appropriate social distancing and safety measures in place.

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“We are extremely proud of our organic coffee, which is carefully sourced from some of the finest coffee growing regions in the world,” said Pret’s UK managing director, Clare Clough.

“We also know how much customers are missing it from their daily lives at the moment, so we’re delighted to be launching our first retail range with Amazon,” she said.

The UK-wide coronavirus lockdown forced the closure of cafes and restaurants across the country, but many are now trialling other ways of offering their products and services to customers.

Prior to the lockdown, Pret claims it sold upwards of 80 million cups of coffee each year.

Pret said on Monday that the sale of coffee on Amazon marked the beginning of a wider retail offering, noting that additional products were under development.

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The chain’s upmarket sandwich offerings have seen it become a global chain with hundreds of outlets, primarily servicing workers looking for healthy and inexpensive lunch options.

Pret’s reopening of stores comes as union, business, and opposition leaders on Monday demanded more guidance on safety in workplaces in the wake of prime minister Boris Johnson’s message to the nation on Sunday.

Critics have warned over safety and severely limited capacity on public transport for commuters.

Pret, founded in 1984, was sold for £1.5bn ($1.8bn) in 2018 to an investment fund of Germany’s billionaire Reimann family.