Brits ‘have chills’ after seeing Pret A Manger CEO’s career history
The CEO of Pret A Manger has left Brits 'with chills' after his 'awesome' career history was revealed.
If you live or spend time in a city centre in the UK, particularly London, chances are you see that star logo around pretty much every corner.
So it will be no surprise to anyone that the company rakes in millions upon millions of pounds each year.
Pano Christou is the CEO of the popular café chain and has been since 2019, but people have been left baffled after finding out what his previous jobs were.
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Christou comes from humble beginnings. He grew up in Tooting in South London and is the son of a cab driver and a nurse.
Talking about his career to the Mirror, he said: “My first job, at 14/15, was delivering mini-cabs cards through doors.
I washed my father's car every Sunday, he would pay me a pound or two, but I would probably find more change under the seats than he paid me.”
The business mogul left school at 16 and went to join McDonald's earning a measly £2.75 an hour.
During his five years working at Maccies, he managed to climb the ladder to eventually become store manager.
After a brief stint at Blockbuster, he joined Pret - where he's been for over two decades - and has never looked back.
He added: “My mum and dad were not at all happy then, but they are happy now.”
He started at the company when he was just 22, but many years later in 2019, he became the third-ever chief executive of Pret.
Between his £400k salary and his long-term shares, he reportedly earned £4 million from the company last year.
Reacting to Christou's career history, one X user wrote: "just got chills, that’s awesome."
Another said: "So, so rare to see this happen. Good for them," while a third added: "Pretty incredible."
But despite being one of the current top dogs, Christou is striving to make the company fair for all.
He said: “If you pay people what they should be paid, you shouldn't have a staff problem.
“I want us to pay more than the competition.”
Staff receive free food and drink while on shift and 50 percent discount any other time, alongside multiple pay increases since he became CEO.
Amid the cost of living crisis, Christou has also introduced a way in which customers can have lunch at a cheaper cost.
He explained: “It's not a meal deal per se, but the idea is that you can buy a can of drink, a baguette or a sandwich and some crisps for under £6.”
His ambition for Pret is that it becomes the UK version of McDonald's in terms of success.
He said: “We want to be genuinely worldwide.
“Why can't it be like McDonald's – we haven't really got a British brand that has done that, so this is our aim.”
Fair play to the bloke.
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Topics: Business, Food And Drink, UK News, Money, Jobs
Mia Williams