YouSaid · the spoken record

Julian Metcalfe

lines on the record: 106
first: 2022-08-29
most recent: 2022-08-29
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Well, you know, when you see a young terrified person come on and perform way beyond their expectations and do a remarkable job, particularly when they're young and they have no confidence, but they're just remarkable. Just people who dare. take a huge risk. Don't you think don't you find it so incredible the way people dare take a risk? It's what we all need to do. It's what everyone listening and watching needs to do more. Seek transparency, take a risk, say, say it, do it. Just go for it. And you can do more than you think and you can say more than you do. So do it.”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I cry movies. The time I cry at all the wrong things, like I cry in movies, I cry in this and this, but I don't cry. She thinks it's weird. She thinks it's really weird to cry in, you know, the voice or something. I don't think it is. Makes me really moved.”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“She's right. No, my children, Misha, my son, my elder son works in the business and he is fanatical and brilliant and works really hard. Billy, my younger son is a very talented artist and Celeste is there too. So those three are all, they understand exactly what it's like to be completely committed and work really, really, really hard. My four-stepchildren equally, the youngest ones just got into an incredible university. My eldest one, Ines, they're all very committed. And my wife is just the same. I've never known a person with more energy, more determination, who's more supportive and generous and loving. If I've let them all down, they've done a bloody good job of not telling me.”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“No, they've never actually outrightly criticized me for it, but I'm aware of it. I mean, I'd have to be an idiot, you know. You don't have children. not married you're in a relationship right So, this is all stuff for you to face in the future”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And the cost is I don't spend enough time nurturing, loving and being supportive to the people I love most. That's just a fact. Do I regret it? Do I accept it? Yes, do they? I pray. And when I'm gone And if we continue to build something remarkable, they'll know that We're all part of this together. This was made possible by them and myself together with the team.”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“My relationships, there's so much I could do better with all my relationships. Honestly, don't know where to start, but at least I'm aware of that.”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Honestly, I mean, where do you begin with something like that It's a perfectly good question, but the list is so long. So the only way you can answer a question like that is to choose the biggest inadequacy. And I wouldn't even know how to do that. I think what I need to do, and we all need to do, is embrace all our inadequacies and know what they are and accept them and thrive knowing they're there. That's what we need to do. Yeah, I'm not going to give you that question by saying my wife goodnight. Or I could go to the gym or I could the hundreds of things. I'm in a very inadequate person.”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think you're on the right track. I mean, that is why you stand out as being this, you know, you've had a huge amount of success at a very young age. So if I was you, I just stick to what's working. And your endless pursuit of transparency and truth, that is what's got you to where you are today Actually, you don't underestimate. I don't know how often anyone in your life congratulates you or pats you on the back, but I think you must carry on as you are with showing great empathy and warmth. So even I've watched on Dragon's Den, it's interesting. That I've noticed you never put anyone down. You somehow Very human the way you deal with everything. So your ability to work within the world of truth is fabulous. So just don't lose it. Don't eat it. And don't forget however much the money's all crap”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I'm often happ Let's get up on Monday and I can't wait to race to work with so many people I admire, love and trust. And I leave home surrounded by people who I love admire and trust. Christ, what more could you possibly want than that? I don't know. Didn't come by accident, so I don't want just saying luck fell in my lap. That's going to be confusing for anyone who's watching this. I got into this situation through doing a lot and working and acting on the evidence. In other words, when things don't work, it's obvious. change it, work harder. Same with your personal relationships. This is all within our domain. We can all do this.”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Listen, I I don't think about it. I really, really don't. I can think about that. I'm not unhappy. I'm very, very privileged and I'm very lucky to be not unhappy. I have all the material things. I have food, warmth, love. I have everything. So the idea of me pondering on how I could be happier is kind of ridiculous. For me, the concept of thinking about how I could be happier is kind of... I mean, really? Haven't I got enough? Got everything. I'm so lucky, not unhappy. Yeah, whatever. Yeah. I'm not unhappy”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Certain so far we've had quite a lot of We're not going to go that. But the fact is I'm not even fear death. No, I don't fear, I don't think I fear anything, actually. I really don't No time to fear time to hope and believe and hope and yeah it's incredible what people can do not just not me but all the people around me”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think just the whole thing with health and not paying enough attention to your health. And it's completely beyond one's control. I mean, totally. When that goes, when you're in trouble, you're in trouble. And that can happen tomorrow. That doesn't really scare me. I don't ponder on it too much, but I think we're all hypersha, my son's a hypo. My wife Brooke is not a hypo. I spent my life saying I'm dying. And then trouble I've cried Wolf so many times. And then one of my stepdaughters is quite into medicine, so I refer my illnesses to her quite a lot.”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“She leads the brand and she's on the board, and she's been extremely helpful from day one She ran the marketing team for four years actually. She was bloody good at it. Now she has three children were about”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Oh what's it like when you funny you know when a child I can assure you you know immediately you just know So it was lovely It was lovely. I was really Funny enough, things like that you would have thought would be completely totally crushing for someone who wasn't that well equipped to deal with that sort of ship. But actually I found it one really, really, really enriching. And the way my two boys embraced her was incredible. Was really an opportunity to really shine and And it was great. No, I have nothing but admiration for the way she's handled it. Anyway, she... Change the subject because she won't like this.”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Because her mother, I wasn't. When this happened, they weren't close, the mother and the father. They really weren't close, if you understand what I'm saying. They really weren't that close. And the father figure was pretty distant through her life. And when she got to the age of 18, I think probably more distant. And I think the mother realized that this couldn't go on forever. And the mother was very brave. She took this hugely brave decision. Do I tell her the truth or do I not? I have nothing but respect, an absolute admiration for the mother having the courage to tell her daughter the truth. Must have been agony. agony all round but she did the right thing”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And I had nothing but an overwhelming desire to a deep overwhelming desire to get in there and try my hardest to build her muscle and her strength and her, you know, what had happened to her was incredibly unjust. And I wanted from the depth of my heart to do everything I could to try and repair it. And I will do that and continue that to the day I die. She's fantastic, and she's really close to my children and my other two, could be much worse. But I feel this is not an easy thing to go through for her. Not an easy thing for anyone to go through. So she's strong she has she's married she has two kids and a third one on the way and she's really rather remarkable.”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“No, I wasn't suspicious. I certainly wasn't suspicious of that. I thought maybe she needed help or I don't know. But she was a kind of cool, intelligent, rather wonderful, eccentric, brilliant woman. So I remembered her very fondly. I hadn't seen her for ages. But so I met her immediately and she just told me there and then my daughter, I have a daughter, and she's your daughter. So I asked her, When did you tell her and how's it gone down? She said, I told her two weeks ago and not well. So then I tried to contact her she was a bit tired. Stand off is hard to get through to her for a few days, and then I drove up to Bristol University and we met”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“She was about no, she was 19. Just started at Bristol University. And her mother called me who hadn't seen for ages. And obviously, I had absolutely no idea that her daughter was, my daughter, no, absolutely no. I'd never met her. I had no idea. And her mother asked to see me. So I said, yes, me and we met in... We met in the King's Road, and she told me I sat down, oh”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I had a feeling you were going to ask about that. That went public, didn't it? Yes, okay, so that is absolutely true. And I work with Celeste now. She's on the board and she sits next to me two days a week and incredible.”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I mean, I know that it was terribly hard for the senior team at practice. Although they hadn't, I mean, everything they'd done was completely within the law. Not that that who cares about that, but it was. I mean, it was just a number of terrible. Things which took place should never have happened”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“In this country, every single one is five star, always. No one else has achieved that before. And that is because the CEO of our company has a fantastic relationship with the head of state. It's awesome. Unbelievable. Our head of safety got up on stage last week and the entire... 220 people just completely clapped. I mean, it says a lot because usually those people. So there's culturally that says something. So health and safety in our industry is really, really a fear. What else? All kinds of things.”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Just stick to the truth. The truth is No, the truth is good in the sense that Of all the things which could go catastrophically wrong, we kind of know about them with regard to the dangers of being on our businesses, health and safety, for instance. We have a five-star record of the highest.”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, after her. But it was very painful for her family and everyone prayed was awful. But the crisis will come thick and fast and we'll be fine.”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“She had serious food allergies and she had bought without her mother wasn't there and she bought a bug out and ate it, which was covered in sesame seeds. I mean, it was tragic. Very, really sad. And as a result of that, Natasha's law has changed, brought in far more labeling, food labeling in this country.”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I wasn't there, I'd left Pret when the crisis happened when the sesame incident of that poor girl who had food allergies. I wasn't there then. That must have been very difficult for everyone then. And the ups and downs, as you know, as you would have experienced in your business, they're the ups and downs every week, every month. So you often think this is Funny enough, I think most of my job today is telling people not to worry. A lot of people I work with come to me and say, we're in terrible, no, it's not. It's going to be fine.”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We're opening lots of interesting places, really fascinating just now in the next 12 months we're opening, I think we open Bromley next week, but it's changing so much.”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So when we found a site and we opened the first itu, which was very different from what it is now, but it was a start. And from that start, we built 76 or something of them. And then about five years ago, we started developing it so it could become the future. But we had to open 76 and keep it private. It was 100% private company. I never, ever again wanted to end up in a situation where I owned a minority where the business would take over. In other words, you will do this, you will do this. We will deliver these profits and we don't care about your vision. So I was able to build it to such an extent with the team that we owned it, all of it.”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I was at Pret and we had a supplier, a wonderful, the head of marketing at the Japanese Center was a young Japanese woman. And she said to me, I said to her, Ya, why are you working for this terribly boring company? Why don't you open a Japanese restaurant which is affordable? Because in those days, Japanese restaurants were really stuck up, really expensive, really boring. And she said to me, okay, I'll leave my job if you help if you pay for it. So I said, okay, I'll pay for it. You leave your job. I promise you two weeks later she rung me up and said, I've left my job. And I said, What have you done? What have you? So I suddenly found myself with this responsibility to open a restaurant.”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“No, I don't really. What I think I sometimes go in, I think, wow, I wonder what, just think what that could be. And then I think, go how complicated that would be to get it there. And thank God I'm not doing both because that's what I'm doing on a daily basis now with Itu. Because Itu will become 10 years from now. A really remarkable home for affordable nutritious food. That's what it will be. There's no question that's what it is becoming. It's hard to see that right now because it sells too much raw fish. 30% of our sales are a product which used to be 90%. It's now down to 50, I think, or something. But we're changing and developing all the time now. Getting faster and faster at the reinvention of the company.”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“No, no, no. I think on the whole, for years, the relationship between the company and its members of staff has been wonderful. So I'm often inspired by that. And I've never, no, I never think that. I think, I don't know.”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And will the business continue to thrive? I don't know. I hope so. I just honestly don't know. But they certainly don't want anything to do with me.”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Two completely different. A really clever person can do both. And we did do both. The business was then run by a friend of mine who's, I still work with now. I have huge respect for. And he did a great job. But in the end, the business was then, of course, sold in 2001, was it 18?”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Because I thought McDonald's, or no, I didn't at the time, the leader, the CEO of the business, persuaded me that McDonald's would teach us the disciplines we didn't have about global expansion. And I, in the end, I kind of caved in. I thought it was a pretty weird idea, but I caved in. But it was pretty obvious after a few months, it was a bad idea because they didn't really understand our business. But I'll tell you what, there was a very, very powerful distinction between a pursuit of real beauty of a product and a relationship with your customers and your staff to running a business and generating sales.”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, he saw a chunk of it, but it really changed. It became professional. And then private equity came in. I mean, we had a very good private equity company, a UK one. They were fine. They were very honourable, decent people. But it was definitely... The business became more about becoming a very successful business than developing a very beautiful relationship with a customer and staff.”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“There's no question. I'm completely in love with what I do. I love it. I really enjoy it. That may sound weird, but it's the truth. I love it. I don't want to be walking in the jungle. I love doing what I'm doing. Every day. I've just had a food meeting now. It was fantastic. We've cracked something we've been working on for a year. We cracked it today. It's incredible. And millions of people will eat this thing in a year from now. And it's because of our relentless passion and hard work to get this thing right. And today, I think we cracked it. And that's wonderful. And then earlier this morning, we cracked a bit of design, which was incredible. I really enjoy it. So I don't want to be in the jungle. He did. He wanted to retire and I respect that. But it left me in the ship because we didn't have any paperwork between us. And suddenly different kinds of people came into the business. And they were much more formal. And some of the joy went out of it.”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I do have control over my life because I definitely make the choice to do what I do. But you couldn't stop. And I love it. I really, I'm happiest creating.”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“No, no, I genuinely promise you, I think people who are able to take control, and I'm going to go walking in the bloody jungle for six months. I have nothing but admiration for people who can do that.”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And I had this really strong vision of wanting to do this. But I knew I was smart enough back then to know I needed someone who was respectful of numbers and discipline and the law. So I said to him, look, if you leave your job, I'll give you half this company. And he did. He was brave, he had a good job, and he left his job. And I think probably in the end, after about 15 years, we'd become immensely successful, the two of us. And he wanted to retire. I think the pace, my endless, never ending pushing on the vision of what this could be probably drove him mental. But he was smart. He retired. He works a bit now, but he kind of retired completely, which I respect completely. That was his choice.”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Because I wasn't, oh, I wasn't asked. I had no choice. The new owners of Pretamanger had nothing to do with me. I met them, I've met them once for five minutes. They probably think I'm an absolute idiot. I've never met them. They have no interest in working with me. That's their choice. It's completely. That's their choice. I hope it works for them.”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's quite common in commerce, as you know. So they can move mountains, but then the mountains crumble. That's boring. It's a waste of everyone's energy and passion and love and everything.”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Often very ambitious people, often not always, but often a very short term, and they're really hiding all their crap for their own personal gain, which I understand. They've got their own goals, they've got their own desires, they've got their own dreams of their own house, this car, this house, this school, this whatever the hell it is. That can be incredibly destructive to someone like. Myself and my team and an organization which I take are like a thirty year view to everything I do. I really do thirty years which must drive some people I work with up the wall but I really like to think 30 years. That he is, must be. And if you get someone who's very powerful in your business who's thinking three years, well, look at that. And that's the...”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Of course, And also a never ending pursuit for the better detail. To make something better, and it's endless. That's the thing about the food it is truly endless.”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Believe it. The only reason we're sitting here now, you and I, is because multiple times we've just made decisions like this. Half the time we've had to pretend to people we work with and we know what we're talking about. When in fact we have completely no idea. But if it feels right and you think long term, you do it. You just persuade them, you pretend you know.”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“No, none. Zero. And everyone used to come in professionals and consultants and just say this is ridiculous. What are you doing? Loyalty scheme is a joke, and I just What can you say It works great But it can't, you know, different, different.”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We're doing a good job by delivering more profit. What they didn't realize is, no, no, to do a great job, you need to build a long-term relationship with your staff and your customers. So give them a coffee, give them a croissant, just do it.”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Profitable shops short time, short term, we found weren't giving anything away. So the manager was saying to us, no, no, no, no, no giveaways, no giveaways, because their margins, their profit margin was better. So we introduced a button on the till called the joy of Pret. I didn't do this. Clive did this. He introduced a system whereby at the press of a button on the computer could tell us every single store which wasn't giving away enough. Because when you gave something away, you had to press, you register it on the till as a giveaway. So we quickly found out all the managers who were being who were running their businesses too tight. They were being a bit mean. They thought...”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“To do these things called buddy days, where the whole office everyone had a buddy shop. And my buddy shop was Oxford. But we used to, you could give away five or six or ten products every single day to anyone, a regular customer, someone who had a long face, someone you fancied, it just didn't matter. Because when you do good stuff, it always comes back. You get it back. You've got to think long term. And so this was a good example of where we begged everyone who worked for us just be kind, give it away. They exceed the expectations of customers. They'll come back. And you know what? Shall I tell you the most extraordinary thing? Some of the most...”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Give away to. No, it wasn't that. No, it was much more than that. It was like, was it? Okay, so we didn't have a loyalty scheme for years and years and years because we... We couldn't quite know what to do, and I couldn't. But what I realized is very, very early on, I think in pre number 12 or something, we said, I know, what we'll do is we'll encourage everyone who works there to give whatever they want away to whoever they want to. It was wonderful”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, we had to, even when we were making no profits, we had a van to take it to the homeless. Of course. Yeah, because you can't expect people to make this stuff, make the food with pride and then throw it away. Yeah, we're obsessed about not throwing it away. You can't throw it away. Ah and then if you take the piss out of your customers you'll lose them. Don't you find it extraordinary how often you get shocking service where you've spent a lot of money and no one gives a damn? I mean, I'm not going to name big companies, but I can think of some companies where I've spent five or six thousand pounds on something and they don't answer. It can be shocking. Don't care Oh my god, I will answer every customer now today if customers write to me. I'll answer them before I go to bed. No question.”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“No, it was a bit exactly. But I find the numbers awfully boring compared to the product and the relationships with the people. They're just like a school report in a way, aren't they? If you want to give away and refuse to keep all your sandwiches to the next day, and what's more, drive them in a van to the homeless people who need them, clearly they've got to be delicious, got to taste good enough so people will pay 50p more or 30p more. And that's just basic common sense, isn't it? I think the whole numbers thing is reasonable. It's just common sense.”
2022-08-29 · The Diary of a CEO · Pret & Itsu Founder: How I Built TWO Billion Dollar Brands At The Same Time!: Julian Metcalfe · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT