Leading with Purpose: Lessons from Pret A Manger CEO Pano Christou

Neil Morrison: Hi and welcome to a brand new Aspire to Inspire podcast episode. My name is Neil Morrison and I’m the Chief People Officer at Staffbase. Today I’m joined by Pano Christou, CEO of Pret A Manger. Panos’s journey with Pret started 24 years ago, having joined as an assistant manager at one of their London locations and since then has risen through the ranks in various roles including Chief Operating Officer, UK MD.

And now with that inspiring career story is the CEO leading this global brand on their growth story. I’m excited to learn more about your journey, Pano, and of course Pret itself. But before we get to that, can you tell us a little bit more about you, the person behind the role and behind that brand?

Pano Christou: Sure. Firstly, I have to say, it’s great to be on with you today, and looking forward to having a great conversation and sharing a little about myself as well as the Pret brand. So in regards to myself, I grew up in South London, so you might get that sense from my accent. I’m married, with two children, two boys, 10 and 15. Married to Vanessa, who is a Spanish lady who originally grew up in Barcelona. We actually met at Pret. But yeah, that’s a bit on me. I think that I live in London as well. Actually different to most people, 15 years ago I moved out of London, but I’ve actually moved back into London a couple of years ago, as I actually miss the hustle and bustle of the goings of London.

But yeah, when I do have time, which is not much time, I, you know, try to the best of my ability to get out and about. But yeah, my heritage is a combination of Greek, Cypriot, and Italian. So, getting quite a Mediterranean touch and I think with my Spanish wife, my kids have got an eclectic mix of Mediterranean-isms. So yeah, hopefully, that’s a bit of a backstop, with some stuff on myself.

Neil Morrison: That’s great. I should probably know this, but given Pret’s sort of expansion and your European presence, is Pret in Spain?

Pano Christou: It is in Spain, actually, as of last year. So we opened our first locations in Spain, in Barcelona airports, that were doing very well. So we will have about 11 or 12 locations by the end of this year in Madrid, Barcelona, some in the southern cities, such as Alicante and Malaga, and in a couple of the Canary Islands as well.

Neil Morrison: Great. Well, I’m sure you’ll be looking to do some trade visits to the Canaries at some point fairly soon. Sounds like a good plan. Pano, perhaps before we dive into a little bit more about your, you know, your own career journey, could you give us a bit more context about Pret in terms of, you know, its UK heritage and roots, but of course, its global presence now.

Pano Christou: Yeah. So Pret started in 1986 in London. So we are 38 years old. The UK is still our largest business. We are in 18 countries across three continents, the Americas, Europe, and Asia. I would say that the UK is about 60% of our business today. About five years ago, it was about 90% of our business. So we are growing faster outside of the UK than inside the UK, even though we are growing in the UK still. So we have about I think, as it stands today, about 685 locations across the world. We will have north of 800 by the end of the year. So that gives you a bit of a sense of the size of the business. We have about 17,500 employees, including our franchise system, and we’re split between about 65% of our business is what we call directory business or business we own, and 35% of our business comes through our franchise partners, which, again, is a relatively new thing for Pret. Five years ago, franchise business was about 1 or 2% of our overall business.

Neil Morrison: That’s been a real recent shift. I’d love to maybe get into some of the opportunities, but of course, the complexity that can bring for a business that’s expanding in that way, as we carry on the conversation. But, you know, I mentioned earlier on, you know, your own career story with Pret and I think that’s pretty well regarded externally and is a real source of inspiration. So I’d love to get your perspective on that, having joined as an assistant manager 24 years ago to now being the CEO of this global brand, this business.

Pano Christou: Yeah. Well, it’s probably 30 years in the sector. The first five years at McDonald’s and then the last 24 years at Pret. Hospitality wasn’t a sector I thought I would go into. I was working at McDonald’s part-time, also studying, but actually really enjoyed the variability of hospitality. Whether it’s the flexibility of shifts, every day is a different day, different challenges, a real, eclectic mix of people from all over the world that you meet. And, what’s not to love about working with food? So, you know, people always need to eat. You know, people are eating out even more now. Food consumption is such a big part of everyone’s life. And, yeah, I think that I never initially came into it with the thought of a career. I think probably about four years into my time at McDonald’s that, oh well actually this coud be something quite meaningful. And my last year at McDonald’s, my only year full-time actually, where I went into management with them. And it’s been a wonderful journey. It really has. I think that, you know, people often say, you know, when did you have your eye on the CEO role? Really, I took one role at a time. I was a big believer in focusing on the role that you do and the next role will come rather than agonizing on the next role. So I think a minute focused too much on the next role takes time away from the role you’re doing that you’ll be really judged on before you take on that next step. And, you know, I’ve had the opportunity to work with many great people. I’m a big believer in a growth mindset. You know, I love learning, and I’m learning every day. I’m always being quite clear on what I’m good at and what I’m not so good at. So try to bring people around you that cover your blind spots and empower those people to, you know, make decisions and take things forward rather than feeling as a leader, you have to have the final decision in the final say. So, you know, curating a team around me that are smart, most smarter than me, that feel empowered to speak up, to make mistakes, and to be collaborative in their approach to things. So, spending that time, you know, evolving teams around me, I guess, has helped me get to where I am today. So I say it’s more about the teams I’ve surrounded myself with than myself as an individual. But, you know, I feel very fortunate to hold the reins to such an amazing brand as Pret and, you know, be on this journey that we all to evolve it. So I’m a big champion of, you know, careers within the hospitality sector. I think that, you know, the sector can at times have a bad reputation, low-paid jobs, etcetera, not treating people well. So, I think there are a lot of companies that are flipping that on its head. I think maybe 20, 30 years ago, it’s much more like that. So I think that the great opportunity I have is within the position I am to help to promote that, more so broadly and, you know, engage the next generation of leaders within our sector.

Neil Morrison: Yeah. That’s amazing. And, I think you make a really good point, you know, being in a position now, and I love the humility that comes through, but you have really, you know, trodden the path within Pret and within the sector. How have you leveraged that at Pret? Talking to your own internal stakeholders, your teams, your managers, as they’re thinking about, you know, their careers at Pret or within the sector? How have you leveraged, you know, your own story to really cast that shadow?

Pano Christou: Well, my hope is it inspires people internally that, you know, if I can do it from where I started then others can. There are many people, like myself in Pret, who’ve started from the bottom and hold senior positions in Pret. So I think brands and the culture behind brands are built on stories. So taking the time out to share those stories — the good, the bad, and the ugly stories that you’ve experienced — to help individuals have the confidence to take more things on and take the next steps on. I often try to tell the story of, you know, what would Pano of today tell Pano at 20 years old? What are the learnings I’ve taken? So if I can share those learnings with the next generation of individuals and leaders that maybe are 20 but may have not had somebody that said, “actually, when I was at this age, these were my insecurities, my anxieties.” You know I think I was probably in my mid-thirties when I realized I had, and I think quite well-versed now, you know, the imposter syndrome, and thinking, you know, how did I get here? Did I get here on merit or by luck or by chance? Once you break through that and understand you’re here because of merit and because of what you’ve achieved, you can do great things. So, I think that, you know, I’m a big believer in storytelling, sharing experiences, trying to humanize leaders as well, because I think that, you know, people will think, oh, he’s the CEO. I didn’t want to speak to him. And anxieties, which I would have had around CEOs 10, 15, 20 years ago. So I think by telling stories, by trying to humanize yourself as a senior executive, by trying to break down the barriers of the glass ceilings or ivory towers, is something I know, I think as a brand Pret’s always been focused on. We have many different cultures. You know, my team is, you know, two-thirds female. I have a mix of ethnic minorities, people from the LGBTQ+ community within my global leadership team. And that’s not happening because of a quota to do this. This has happened organically, which I’m very proud of.

Neil Morrison: Yeah. Quite right. That’s great to hear. I think the thing that really resonates, listening to you, is this aspect of the power of storytelling and of humanizing the leaders within a workplace. And then telling those stories can be really powerful for the culture. Right? The culture of, I guess, Pret. And so, you know, if you reflect on the culture at Pret, the values, how would you explain those to us? What is it like working at Pret and being a part of that culture?

Pano Christou: So I would say that people often say, why do you stay for so long? And it’s because Pret’s given opportunities. and I think a big part of the culture is the opportunities that it gives to people, that people feel that it doesn’t matter, you know who you are, where you come from, what you look like. If you work hard, do a good job, things can happen. I think there is a culture that we try to curate based on trust, feedback, and openness. We don’t always get it right. We make mistakes at times. I think sometimes there have been stages in our history where people are fearful to speak up. There will be stages in history where people feel they can speak very freely, and you just need to continue to keep an eye on and keep a pulse on how people are feeling and the culture that you’re developing. Because I think culture is ever-evolving and you never totally nail culture. So you know, I know a number of companies have, you know, which we do as well, annual surveys and quarterly pulse surveys to get a sense of how people are feeling, which we do all those bits and pieces. But I think that, you know, there is a real passion for the product that we sell. And most of the people I would say, if not all at work, love our products, love what we’re trying to do, bring us a cultural passion, excitement, engagement when it comes to what we’re trying to do, which in some ways I think, resonates with customers as well, not just because of the people that are behind the brand. But, you know, we have customers that are very affectionate and have a high affinity to us as well and what we do. So when we get things right, you have many plaudits from customers, but equally, when you do things wrong, you know, you have customers and individuals that have a very strong opinion, when those things do occur.

Neil Morrison: Yeah. And, you know, I’ve just been listening to you thinking about, you know, what Pret means to lots of people from a customer perspective. And, you know, you’re right. There’s this sort of halo of good around Pret. And Pret stands for good, stands for better. And I know your charitable arm, your foundation has a long history also of really trying to move the needle on an issue which impacts much of society around homelessness. And so that makes me think about this sort of notion of purpose and people feeling part of something, part of something that’s trying to, you know, serve and do good. Can you talk about that side of Pret, about how that foundation provides an opportunity to tell an internal narrative and help create a different sense of belonging for people around purpose?

Pano Christou: Yeah. The Pret Foundation, which you’re alluding to, I’ve been a trustee for about a decade now. It is a wonderful thing. And I think it initially started with our founders and our very first store in Victoria, London. I’m not sure everyone, most people would buy a prepackaged sandwich, baguette, or salad that gets delivered from factories hundreds of miles away with multiple-day shelf lives. Pret’s quite different. So the food is made on site or very close to the site. The food is made on the same day, and the food has to be wasted on the same day. So when you’re wasting food at the end of the day, and obviously trying to be passionate about not wasting too much food, especially when there are so many that go without food, you start to challenge yourself on how you can ensure that that food goes to a good place. And it started initially by us looking for local charities close to Pret stores and giving the food to those homeless shelters. Then from there, it started to evolve and step home. We started to build relationships with the charities. We started to understand the challenges charities made. Then we put charity boxes in our shops. So the donations that we got from our customers, we would use to give grants to the charities to help them with small things, such as a new fridge in a kitchen that serves, you know, homeless people or all other attributes. And what we’ve tried not to do is to go to big kinds of national or multinational charities. It’s to work closely with grassroots charities that we know them well, we know from a community perspective. They work closely with us, and we can really see at grassroots level what impact that we’re having when we are, you know, bringing those grants forward. But then taking a step home from there, you know, we quickly realized 20 years or so ago that, you know, homelessness is a cycle. How do you break the cycle and help these individuals to get back up on their feet? And that’s where, what we call our Rising Star program was born. And the Rising Star program is a program that we have that brings mainly homeless people, but also ex-offenders, back into the work environment. So about 80% of our rising stars are people that were homeless, 20% are ex-offenders. We would work closely with charities, find out those individuals that were seeking shelter in these charities or engaging in charities, and then work to try and bring them back into the work environment through Pret. But we wouldn’t just put them to work. We would help them by covering their travel for the first three months. We would invest in counselors to help them as well, especially within the early months. In some instances, we would support them with accommodation, because we were finding that if people don’t have good stable accommodation, they finish work at the end of the week and then maybe won’t turn up on the weekend because they’ve been sleeping rough. So that is something that we started doing 20 years or so ago. We brought around 500 people into the work environment through Pret. This year we’ll bring in 125 people. So we’ve had a real ramp-up of this recently. We have some instances now that people that were homeless are now store managers of our shops. We kicked off a scheme a couple of years ago that we are doing internships with some of these people in our support center. So we’ve got a couple of them working in our digital product team now as well. So, you know, it’s just something that we have continued to focus on, being very focused on homelessness. People often say, “Oh can you help with this charity or do this or do that?” But we actually are very focused on this and we think it works well with us. We give away food at the end of the day from our stores, but also trying to break the cycle and work with those charities. So, that is something I’m very proud of. That is something that we’ve continued to grow, and it is an important part of Pret. And it’s an important part, I think, for us as a business to give back to society.

Neil Morrison: It’s fantastic. It’s inspiring to hear. And I think, you know, you put this sense of purpose and of doing the right thing and of doing good against the job and against, you know, being a member of the team at Pret. And it really starts to elevate that experience. I think for the individual, whether they’re directly connected to the program itself or part of the team, that someone is. And you know, you referenced earlier about the hospitality sector, or the retail sector more broadly. It’s often someone’s first experience of the world of work, and they may not join that team thinking they’re going to end up being the CEO one day. But it often is our first job. And so I’m curious to know, you know, what has the sector and your experience within it and with customers taught you about the power of communications?

Pano Christou: Yeah, communication is everything to me. And I think that the better you get your message, the clearer you get your message across, the more people can buy into the philosophy of the brand, the culture, and the business. And I think as a business grows larger, that becomes more challenging and more complex. So you have to continue to challenge yourself and how you evolve the way you communicate. And also as well, you know, with, you know, specific younger generations that communicate in different ways through technology, etcetera. And the thing is, I think today there are some really great vehicles to help, curate communication in a way that is succinct and can get cut through. But again, I think that, you know, there’s been times that we’ve got it right. There’s times that we haven’t got it right from a communications perspective. And again, I think there is no end state with great comms, it’s just a continuation. I think one thing that we always, as a business grapple with, I often say, you know, one of Pret’s biggest challenges is not what to do but what not to do. And I think that, you know, being clear on what you’re doing, trying and being focused on doing less and doing less well is what will enable the people around you to be brilliant at what they do. Has Pret totally nailed it? No, I don’t think so. I think there’s a lot more Pret needs to do in that area. But I think we’ve made some great steps as well. But, you know, communication is fundamental, I think, to any business.

Neil Morrison: And, you know, you referenced things growing and getting more complex. And I think maybe that’s an inflection point over the last few years and maybe the years ahead for Pret, as you, you know, continue that global expansion and maybe even through more reliance on a franchise system over time, to access that opportunity that brings complexity and also new stakeholders to communicate to. Can you, you know, can you talk to maybe some of those challenges that exist then, when you’re really still trying to drive this consistent experience of Pret for the employee and for the customer?

Pano Christou: You know, I think for any business you grapple with how quickly you grow, and the faster you grow, the harder it is to maintain consistency. So how do you ensure that you are growing in a way that is good for your business and your brand, but doesn’t hinder consistency in what you’re trying to do? So I think brands are built on consistency. To your points on franchise partners in different markets, I think those both bring different elements of complexity to franchisees because, how do you get them to buy into your philosophy and your culture and the way of doing things? In particular, if they come in at a certain level and have not been nurtured from grass roots. And also I think different countries have just different nuances when it comes to communication. So how do you represent the brand of communication in a way that is authentic to Pret, but is done in a way that resonates with the local nuances that you’re operating in?

Neil Morrison: Have you got any examples of where, you know, you’ve traveled the Pret world and encountered a cultural nuance that’s, you know, been interesting to observe or for you to have a think about how you’re communicating most effectively.

Pano Christou: Yeah. So, I’ll give you the, I guess if I look at between, you know, our UK business and our US business directly on either side of the Atlantic. I think that, you know, what we have learned over the years in the US in particular, you have to be very clear and concise in how you communicate. Whereas I think sometimes in the UK we may pontificate a bit and discuss around things. So, I think that, you know, I love the directness of, you know, Americans in a very clear way of how you stand and how you move forward. So I think those are two different nuances. Then I think that, and I wouldn’t be able to give you specific examples, but I know things such as between us in the UK and France and just different acronyms and words and things that you have to work through. So, those are the different nuances. And actually, I think for different cultures and different countries from one to the next, and even in some instances. So we’re now operating in India, but, you know, the culture and the communication in one part of India will be very different to another part of India. Obviously, it’s such a large country. So again, understanding those differences as well.

Neil Morrison: Yeah. And is there a time when excuse me, you’ve, you know, arrived in one of these places around the world, but you have truly felt that spirit in the shop, with the team, irrespective of the fact that it’s in a different country and, you know, maybe tell us about some of those moments that you’ve still been absorbing that very same culture that you’ve established from the UK in a different part of the world? What stands out for you in that sense?

Pano Christou: Yeah. Many, many great examples of that. And I would say that if I dwell on the most recent trip I took towards the end of last year. I was in India and it will be my second trip to India since we had decided to go to India. The first trip was really to launch the brand, but before we opened our first store, and the second trip was to see our sites in Mumbai and Delhi, and I was absolutely blown away with how the brand was being represented in India. I think our partner, through our reliance on doing a great job, is our fastest route to market, ever, you know, opening 17 locations in our first 12 months. And even with that, the emphasis that they put into understanding the culture and how it stacks up to the Indian consumer was great. Just the people, how they interacted, and how the food was showing up to people. And I think that, you know, I’m a big believer of, you know, spending time to really understand your people and recruiting high quality people is so important. And I think that’s what I was talking to someone that runs hotels, recently, and he was saying, you know, kind of do you know, the difference between a good five star hotel and a great five star hotel? And I said, no, no, elaborate. So he said both hotels should be in great locations. They would look great. They would have spas X, Y, and Z. The difference between a great hotel and a good hotel is a great hotel is where you have people really on point. And his views are, a differentiator between a good hotel and a great hotel are the people, the service they put on, and the empowerment they feel they have to serve customers. I think that, you know, really resonated with me because I think that, you know, when I went to my recent trip in India, I could see that actually, the way the team was showing up was, I think, ten out of ten.

Neil Morrison: Yeah. That’s awesome. I suppose it makes the importance of really communicating the brand’s vision and mission and values to new and potential partners, franchisees that are going to help, you know, grow the brand across the world. It makes that even more important for you to be able to confidently articulate what Pret stands for, but then also get a sense from them communicating back. That’s a reassurance that they’re okay, that they’re going to be the ones that you can trust to bring that to life.

Pano Christou: Correct.

Neil Morrison: You know, you’ve obviously evolved, Pano ,alongside the business. And part of that, you know, it’s really about embracing change. And I think that’s what you’re really talking to at the minute. How does that sort of embracing change, evolving self, embracing innovation, how does that come through you and your team’s leadership style so that you’re really sort of betting that in as a culture within Pret?

Pano Christou: Well, I’m a big fan of change. And, I think that, you know, when you have change projects and transformation projects, executing the project is one thing. The most important thing is bringing the people on the journey and understanding how people go through a change curve when you are putting new things in, because you have to change continually. And I think we’re in a world that is changing faster and faster. So you have to continue to evolve yourself and reinvent yourself. I tried to create an environment where people can try things and make mistakes and, you know, I often say it’s, you know, it’s absolutely fine to make a mistake. Don’t make the same mistake twice. But it’s good to make that mistake, and then learn from it and move on. So, you know, we have in Pret a specific standalone, you know, transformation director that has a transformation program office. So everything that we’re trying to do will ladder up into our strategy, being really focused on projects and ensuring they ladder up and they add value to to our vision and where we’re going, trying to ensure that we don’t have pet projects that hang around and, but at the same time ensuring there is enough slack in the system to try new things that may not be planned. And so I think to your point on change, we’re in a world that’s changing a lot and changing fast. And I think it is part and parcel of business now. And, sometimes I do wonder, as somebody that has been in Pret for such a long time, shouldn’t I be someone that is not really open to change? Because I’ve just seen how it is. But, I would say I am anything but.

Neil Morrison: Yeah, that’s really interesting. And I think, you know, you add the context of the sector into that, which, of course, you do have a lot of people with significant tenure at Pret, but of course, you have lots of new people joining and, and cycling through your teams often. And that notion of change and transformation and really embedding it through effective communication, that makes it harder, I think. So how do you see the role of that, you know, transformation team or the business more broadly of really battling that headwind of there’s lots of new people that need to keep hearing the right message over and over.

Pano Christou: Yeah. Again, it’s not easy. I think bringing in the right people that can get up to speed well, and also ensuring that you have a muscle in your organization that can upskill your people internally, because, I think there’s more ideally, I’m much more of a fan of trying to upskill people internally, to deal with change than to bring in new people to deal with the change. I think we need a blend of both. But I think that that transformation team needs to ensure that it’s not just focused on executing the plan, but focus and understanding where the skill gaps or how we plug the skill gaps and how we do that in a proactive way, so we’re not chasing our tail and doing it reactively. And again, I think there have been some good examples of that and not so good examples of that. And I think where we are today on how we deal with change, I think is much stronger than five years ago. But I think that more and more people today, even new people that are joining or people that you’re upskilling, know and will understand, you know, change is becoming a bigger part of a business. And it is becoming, in some ways, a bit more of a BAU activity, then, you know, we transform or change, do change for three years, and then we calm down for five years and we do it again. It’s kind of, ever-ongoing.

Neil Morrison: Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, from previous conversations you’ve talked about the power of why and always starting with why. How do you see that as an important pillar of, of ongoing change when you’ve got a team that’s growing and evolving quite quickly?

Pano Christou: Yeah. You need to bring people on the journey and the why is the explanation to ensure that you get people to buy into that. And I think that when you are operating at a pace, sometimes you forget the why. Because you’re just trying to push change through an organization. And I would say during Covid, we probably didn’t cover the why as much as we should have done or could have done. And again, you know, the business went from a great business to zero business within 24 hours. So people had to react very quickly to that. But, I think the why is all about taking people on the journey, exciting people about the journey as well. And, you know, people will have their own insecurities and anxieties when this changes. What does it mean for me? Will my job change? Will I have a job? So how do you ensure that you give people a reason to understand that this adds value to their day to day?

Neil Morrison: Yeah, definitely. You talked about exciting people. We, you know, firmly believe in the power of inspiration as a powerful tool to bring people together to achieve great things. Thinking about Pret’s future now and the future growth and success that lies ahead for the team and for the brand, how do you see the role of creating inspiration to be a part of that momentum as you look forward?

Pano Christou: Yeah, I think it goes back to stories. And how do you have those stories that inspire people and excite people? And, you know, not doing it, as an example, we have an annual conference that we’re having in July. So I’m going to bring one of the founders along to talk about their own views on Pret, on customers, and many of those people would have never met the founder, one of the founders at all. So bringing in different kinds of voices to inspire people. So it can be done by myself or leadership or others that may have been part of the journey many years ago or may have been in other companies that are ahead of us. So how can you — I’m a big fan of bringing in external stimulation as well as internal, so there is an outside-in view of the world and of our business. And we’re not, just wholly focused on what we think and what we feel.

Neil Morrison: Yeah, that’s a great example. Pano, before we wrap up, you know, you mentioned you’ve got over 17,000 people today, on team Pret, let’s say, across the world. As you think about all of them, is there something that you hope for them, that you would wish for them, that you could share with us now?

Pano Christou: Well, in all honesty, for me, it’s very simple with our people. We’re all people. I’m very thankful for everything they do for us every day. And without them, you know, we are, you know, as an executive team, are nothing. So, you know, I thank them for everything they do. I hope that as a brand, we can continue to give them opportunities to better themselves as human beings and individuals. And I think that, if we can do that bit and, you know, have an impact in their lives, as Pret has had an impact in my life, one hopes that we’re onto a good thing.

Neil Morrison: Yeah. That’s wonderful. Pano, a heartfelt thank you from me for this conversation. Thank you for being with us. I’m Neil Morrison. I hope you’ve all enjoyed this episode of Aspire to Inspire, and be sure to join us again soon. Thanks, Pano.