The “too good to be true” Club Pret subscription benefit will end in September, where it will be replaced by a “new and simple offer”.
As part of the new deal, Club Pret subscribers will get 50% off up to five barista-made drinks per day for £10 per month.
But existing and new customers will pay just £5 per month until 31 March 2025.
Pret will also axe its 20% discount on food and remove dual pricing across its food products, which it said it “never really got comfortable with”.
Coffee cancel culture
Customers have taken to social media to express their anger at the move.
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One wrote: “And with a stroke, Pret have destroyed an essential value proposition for their business. Without the subscription discount their food is horrifically overvalued. This program will now wither and most of us will feel free to shop around once more. They would have been better to reduce the number of free drinks to three.”
Another posted: “I actually really like my local Pret people and will be sad to not see them daily anymore, but financially it makes zero sense so will say bye bye next month!”
This customer wrote on X: “If I was to get my regular mocha everyday (as I do now) that would set me back almost £70 every month compared to £30 now. Stop pretending that is great value!”.
And for this coffee fan, she simply posted: “This is my 2024 heartbreak, thanks Pret.”
Club Pret amid the Covid pandemic
Pret first launched its coffee subscription service in September 2020 in a bid to win back customers after suffering significant losses amid the coronavirus pandemic.
For £20 per month, members could pick up a maximum of five free barista-made coffees, tea, hot chocolate and iced drinks, as well as milk alternatives, syrups and extra coffee shots, per day.
Some analysts worked out the scheme could save customers £400 per year, based on someone usually buying one hot drink per day.
But over the years, the price has increased, first to £25 in March 2022, then to £30 per month from June 2023.
In four years of the scheme, Pret said it has served over a quarter of a billion coffees and has decided “it’s time to rethink how it works”.
‘Best offer on the high street’
In a letter and message to customers, Clare Clough, the UK and Ireland managing director, wrote: “It’s almost four years since we introduced our coffee subscription at the height of the pandemic, and I’m proud of the role Club Pret has played for us and our customers since.
“It was an innovative way to reconnect with our loyal customers and introduce Pret to tens of thousands of new ones, bringing customers back into our shops with an offer that almost seemed ‘too good to be true’.
“We know this is a change. But with Club Pret subscription, our coffees, teas, coolers and iced drinks will continue to be the best offer on the high street, and at a much more accessible price than the £360 per year people have to pay for the current scheme.
“Given the majority of our customers are not Club Pret subscribers, our priority now is to focus on better value for everyone.”
She added: “I am extremely grateful for the ongoing loyalty of all of our customers and I hope to see you in our shops very soon.”
Pret confirmed it has also brought back its signature 99p 100% organic Arabica filter coffee as it drops the price of its all-butter croissant to £1.99.
