Pret a Manger UK introduced a monthly coffee subscription service in 2020

ANXIOUS to win back customers, coffee and quick snack chain Pret a Manger UK introduced a monthly coffee subscription service in 2020 which for £20 a month allowed members to have up to five barista drinks a day without extra cost.
Now, having found that the service has become the success it hoped for, it has increased the cost to new members by 20 per cent to £25 per month and will be upping the price to existing users in March.
Considering that a drink can cost between £2.30 and £3.25 and you can have five a day (provided you leave 30 minutes between ordering) this still seems like good value but many subscribers are complaining about such a huge percentage rise.
According to the company however, it is simply adjusting the price to cope with a number of prices rising, many of which are beyond its control.
Somewhat disingenuously it has explained that from March 31, UK VAT on its product will be 20 per cent and therefore £2 out of the £5 increase will be surrendered as VAT.
What it doesn’t mention is that it was already paying 5 per cent when it introduced the subscription service and from October 1, 2021 the VAT rate had been increased to 12.5 per cent.
Of the balance of £3, Pret needs to offset significant pay rises to staff announced in January of this year, which will account for £1.50 and the balance will offset the rising costs of Arabica beans and milk.
One subscriber tweeted that if they took five drinks a day and paid normal prices, overall costs would be some £150 a month, so the subscription still remains a bargain.
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