International law firm Bird & Bird advised Pret A Manger (Pret), known for its freshly made food and organic coffee, on a strategic joint venture (JV) partnership with existing franchisee, Dallas International (Dallas). The joint venture will accelerate each company’s ambitious plans in the United States, a key growth market in which Pret intends to expand further through a combination of new equity shops and additional franchise agreements.
As part of this new partnership, Dallas will have operational control of approximately 50 Pret owned shops located in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C., and exclusive rights to open new shops in these markets. Dallas intends to refurbish a number of shops, and work with Pret to develop and introduce new shop formats, including drive-thru’s. Dallas will also open more than 10 new Pret shops on the East Coast by 2026.
This joint venture builds on the existing relationship between Pret and Dallas, which includes separate franchise partnership agreements for Dallas to build and operate a range of Pret shops, including in the UK and more than 40 in southern California.
The terms of the joint venture are confidential.
The Bird & Bird Team was led by James Baillieu (partner, Corporate) and Graeme Payne (partner, Retail & Consumer – Franchising) and also included Remy Browning (senior associate, Corporate), Jazmin Cole (associate, Corporate) and Chris Bourchier (trainee solicitor, Corporate), Shelley Nadler (legal director, Retail & Consumer – Franchising) and Megan Harrison (associate, Retail & Consumer – Franchising), Zoe Feller (partner, tax), Simon Gough (legal director, Tax) and Emily Patel (associate, Tax), Ian Edwards (partner, Technology Transactions) and Francesca Longsworth (senior associate, Technology Transactions) and Elizabeth Upton (legal director, Data Privacy).
Bird & Bird worked alongside Pret’s in-house team, including Rita Mehta (General Counsel), Mandy Miller (Legal Director) and Evie Towersey (Legal Counsel) and Akerman LLP, who advised on the US law aspects of the transaction, and whose team was led by Kenneth Wiggins (Corporate) and Kevin Hein (Franchising).
Pano Christou, CEO at Pret A Manger said: “We have huge ambitions for Pret’s freshly made food and organic coffee to become a more globally recognized brand that is working in partnership with our franchisees to unlock significant growth in new markets. This approach has driven significant growth in Europe and Asia and enabled Pret to track ahead of its mid-term global growth target to double the size of the business by 2026. We look forward to replicating these results in the United States, building upon our already successful partnership with Dallas as we jointly pursue our next phase of growth.”
James Baillieu, partner in the Corporate practice at Bird & Bird said: “This strategic joint venture is transformative for Pret’s business in the United States and exactly the kind of deal we love working on. Our ability to get this complex corporate transaction over the line was down to our market-leading retail and franchising expertise. We were absolutely thrilled to work closely with the whole Pret team on this project and we look forward to seeing the Pret brand grow in the North East under Dallas’ stewardship.”
Rita Mehta, General Counsel at Pret A Manger said: “This new partnership with Dallas is an exciting step in supercharging Pret’s growth in the United States. We were delighted to work with James, Graeme, Shelley and the broader Bird & Bird team, whose knowledge and expertise in the retail and franchising spaces was critical to successfully delivering this transaction. We were impressed with the hard work, dedication and collaborative approach of the entire Bird & Bird team and are looking forward to working with them on future transactions.”
Shane Thakrar, President and Chief Executive Officer at Dallas said: “We believe in Pret and are proud to be a strong partner to a marquee brand that is known and loved wherever it operates. This new company further demonstrates our confidence in the brand, concept, and growth potential. We look forward to taking operational control of these prime locations and territories and further investing in new shop formats, operational excellence, and team members. Each market included in the deal has tremendous growth potential that will build on our already strong footprint in the United Kingdom and new operations in California, all underpinned by our strong partner, team and customer ethos.”
