Fast roll-out
With 120 stores in Britain, mostly in greater London, Pret A Manger plans to open two more stores in New York this year on top of the nine it now operates. In Asia, it recently opened the second of six planned restaurants in Hong Kong and plans to its first opening in Tokyo this year.
Beecham said Pret a Manger is in no rush to open in other US cities. "We want to focus on New York and get it right before expanding elsewhere," he said.
Given McDonald's lackluster financial performance and limited growth opportunities at home, the fast-food company is trying to add excitement through different formats in its hamburger chains.
On the same day that Pret A Manger opened its newest store in Manhattan, McDonald's cut the ribbon on a new mega-restaurant in a shopping mall in Columbus, Ohio,
Among other things, the restaurant features a karaoke booth, indoor park and a stand-alone "McTreat Center" dispensing ice cream and cookies. Its design is meant to evoke a small town center, and provide a family-friendly restaurant for all ages, said a McDonald's spokesman.
Many analysts expect that Pret A Manger and McDonald's other Partner Brands will make increasingly significant contributions to the fast-food giant.
In quarterly earnings last month, McDonald's said sales from the Partner Brands segment rose 13 percent to US$254.7 million, the biggest increase among all its businesses.
However, there are no plans for McDonald's to take a larger stake in Pret A Manger, said Beecham.
"You can't knock McDonald's for being a big, successful company," he said. "We just don't share the same philosophy."
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