A small Bermondsey bakery is facing a legal threat from coffee giant Pret A Manger over similarities in the two companies’ names.
The owners of Bread A Manger, which employees just three people in the Blue market got a letter from Pret lawyers ordering them to change the name, logo and marketing materials. Bread A Manger said these changes would cost up to £8,000, enough to put the tiny bakery out of business.
“I thought it was a joke at first,” said co-owner Fouad Saber. “We thought it was a scam. It was quite funny, we were laughing. Then I checked the lawyer online and we saw they were a big company.
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“Now it feels a little bit stressful.”
Mr Saber and his business partner Bertrand Kerleo founded the business in May 2020 after losing their jobs in the pandemic. They have one employee and Mr Saber’s wife Myriam also helps out in the shop sometimes. Pret has 8,000 staff and 550 shops. The company was valued at £1.5 billion when it was sold to German conglomerate JAB in 2018.
“You have to start somewhere… we have worked hard for two years. But I think now we just have to try to survive.”
Bread A Manger’s customers have rallied round. One regular is a judge, Mr Saber said, and put them in touch with a lawyer. The next step is to reply to Pret’s legal letter by Thursday (March 3.) Pret wants Bread A Manger to change its name this month.
“I’m not scared at all, I don’t care who says it,” Mr Saber said. “I will not be depressive for that.”
Mr Saber is from Lyon in France. “It’s the capital of the Resistance in World War Two!” he said. “We are fighters in Lyon, and I will fight this.”
Bread A Manger’s main business is artisanal cakes and pastries. The logo bears no resemblance to Pret’s. Mr Saber said there was no pun or similarity with Pret intended in the name. “Anyway, we are not even in competition!” The closest Pret is more than a mile away, off Tooley Street near London Bridge.
Defiant Mr Saber added: “It’s actually quite positive for me to be honest with you. Who can say that they’re a tiny little business and they fight and make trouble for a big company? It’s like fighting with Coca-Cola!”
Jo Holinska, Head of operations, London City at Pret A Manger, said: “Thousands of Pret Team Members across London have worked hard to earn the trust of customers in the city over the past four decades, and although we appreciate it when other businesses take inspiration from what we do, this name is just too close, especially when many of the products are similar too.
“We’re more than happy to give the business the time it needs to make these changes and to provide any support we can, and we’ll be getting in touch again to see if we can resolve this in a fair and amicable way.”
I’d say you got a valid case to defend. But with small businesses, they don’t fight because of the cost to do so. If you fight back, I’d advise that you take screen shots of Pret’s website – about, drinks menu. Nowhere in the site does it include “A Manger” except for the legal copyright at the bottom. They refer to themselves as just ‘Pret’, which just means ‘Fast/Ready’. It’s also because they want to move away from being branded as “fast food” which is what it means. Yours is a different meaning altogether, meaning Bread To Eat. Good luck.
My God Shane on pret! They don’t want any competition! They should be supportive of independent small businesses. This bakery, which my mum loves, hadn’t got nearly the range of pret. Another reason to boycott all these huge corporate conglomerate chains! They do not own the word bread nor the word manger!! I do hope this bakery gets support from far and wide