Dubai: UK sandwich and coffee chain Pret A Manger will open its first branch in central Dubai later this month at Dubai Mall.
Gulf News reported in August 2017 that the brand was actively assessing locations for its first restaurant outside of Dubai’s airport.
Based on the positive reaction the retailer has received to its branch at Dubai International’s Terminal 1, they were looking for new, central locations, Pret A Manger said in a statement.
Now, Emirates Leisure Retail, the company’s franchise owner in the UAE, has confirmed sent out a press invitation to the opening of a Pret A Manger restaurant on the ground floor of Dubai Mall towards the end of February, confirming the brand’s official entry in to the market.
The exact location and opening date were not specified in the email.
A spokesperson for Pret A Manger, based in London, told Gulf News last year that the company had received a “really fantastic customer response to our first UAE shop at Dubai International,” and as a result were looking at other “more centrally-located sites in Dubai.”
The firm declined to provide any additional details.
The provider of organic coffee and fresh sandwiches, which reported a 2016 revenue of £776 million (Dh3.93 billion), is the largest shop of its kind not to open in Dubai. The likes of Starbucks, Costa Coffee, and Cafe Nero have been around since the early 2000s, marking Pret A Manger out as something of a latecomer.
When the chain finally opened its doors to international travellers at the airport in March 2016, Emirates Leisure Retail, a subsidiary of Emirates Group, which also operates Costa Coffee, was said to be looking at opening more branches.
Pret A Manger will enter a fiercely competitive market, with more than 4,000 tea and coffee houses operating across the UAE, according to online food guide Zagat.
In March 2017, Pret was said to be weighing up an initial public offering (IPO) on Wall Street, according to Bloomberg, seeking a valuation of more than £1.5 billion.
