UK coffeehouse chain Pret A Manger is planning on significantly increasing its footprint in the US before the end of the decade.

Speaking to Reuters, the company’s chief executive officer Pano Christou said that Pret is looking to expand from around 58 stores in the US at present to more than 300 by 2029, a more than five-fold level of growth.

Christou told the newswire that it has agreed an expanded partnership with existing franchisee Dallas International to accelerate its US expansion through new stores and renovations to existing locations, along with new formats like drive-thrus. Dallas International will take over around 50 Pret locations in the US.

The company’s US strategy to date has focused on major cities and office-oriented areas, with more than 40 of the current total of stores located in New York City and others scattered around locations like Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. Christou said that it would shift its focus on opening more stores in regional and suburban areas, reflecting a successful shift for the business in its domestic UK operations since 2021.

The executive said that the business is growing ten times faster outside of urban centres in the UK, where it has more than 450 locations (with more than half of that total being found in London).

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