Because Pret is growing, one shop at a time (no rush), we’re always looking for good managers. They’re the life and blood of our company. They have made us successful. Pret managers are often the envy of the retail world.

A day in the life of a manager.

At Pret we believe that a manager’s role is to 'lead', not just manage the day-to-day stuff. That may appear obvious, but the truth is that to many 'managers' working in the hospitality/retail business are simply glorified jailors. They’re given a bunch of keys, a boring manual, a polyester tie and a bunch of tired inmates to watch over.

The experience, passion and sensitivity of a good manager is so easily wasted as they worry about conforming and playing company politics. A manager’s role is demanding! One minute they’re accountants, the next sergeant majors, then they’re psychiatrists, five minutes later they’re nannies, trainers, IT specialists, firemen, first aiders and entrepreneurs. At Pret we are respectful of this.

It's hardly surprising that managers have different skills. Some are brilliant at training and developing their staff. Some are truly great with customers, others are stunning business people. Our aim at Pret is to provide all our managers with roughly the same degree of basic skills and then put them into a role, which they will excel at and enjoy.

A leader needs to be listened to and trusted. They need some slack. They need freedom. They need to be nurtured and developed. We all do.

Our founder, Julian Metcalfe, still works at Pret in London. He started the first Pret in Victoria in 1986 and is the first to admit that he was a pretty poor manager then and is still learning new skills today. A manager never stops learning.

Show me the money!

We pay well. Most importantly, we pay as much as we can afford rather than as little as we can get away with. We reward our managers according to their ability to take charge, improve service, sales and customer loyalty.

One thing is for sure - we bonus well. Up Every quarter, one manager has the opportunity to nearly triple their bonus. We encourage and reward our managers to be business leaders as well as being very knowledgeable in all Pret's standards and processes.

The Pret Academy

The Pret Academy is a structured learning pathway from Leader (this would probably be supervisory level in most businesses) through to shop General Manager. All the learning through the Pret Academy is done at your own pace, although we do give approximate timescales to keep you on track (and to give superstars the chance of promotion as soon as they are ready).

Our training is clear, well structured and, most importantly, practical. Whatever your goal (from GM to astronaut), we have a pretty clear pathway mapped out for how to get you there.

Our External 'Manager in Training' programme lasts between 8 and 12 weeks, and it doesn't stop there. You'll continue learning well after the official programme ends.

You'll have regular catch-ups with your manager (face-to- face, the old fashion way) to chat about your development and performance.

No one gets bored at Pret (hopefully).

How do I find our more?

Of course, a fairly good start is to be a customer of Pret. Try us out. Eat our food. Hassle our staff. Ask them lots of annoying questions. See if you get a good vibe.

Once you've done that (and want to dig deeper), go through our website. Read our in-house literature. Maybe contact us and ask for some more info. Chat to us. You can tell a lot about a company just by talking to the employees. Do contact us.

Still interested? Send us your up to date cv and a cover letter to Hysan Avenue …..alternatively email us on recruitmenthk@pret.com