Pret to expand veggie arm with Eat deal

Pret a Manger is buying food chain Eat in what its chief executive says is an effort to “turbo charge” its Veggie Pret chain.

Clive Schlee said the purpose of the deal was to meet demand from vegetarian and vegan customers.

Pret, which has 400 stores in the UK, has four branded as “Veggie Pret” and aims to convert as many of the 90 Eat stores as possible to the new brand.

The two companies are private equity-owned and no price was disclosed.