EAT restaurants closing down

[wondering7777]

A bit late to the news, but I heard today that EAT is closing soon - apparently Pret has bought all its stores and is planning to convert many of them into veggie/vegan branches of Pret:

www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/pret-a-manger-eat-takeover-vegetarian-vegan-high-street-a8924776.html

I'm fully expecting loads of replies telling me I'm lazy and should make my own packed lunches to take in. You're right, I should.

But I like EAT for its soups and hot pots (particularly the chicken pot pie!) and will miss having it as an alternative to Pret - it's nice having a choice. Are you a fan of EAT and will you miss it? Or are you looking forward to the veggie/vegan Pret concept?

Actually a bit of both. I like EAT (especially their hot pots and salads), but I also like the idea of the veggie / vegan Pret concept. (I’m not actually a veggie but I’m not a big meat eater and often eat vegetarian through choice.). I always thought EAT and Pret were similar in terms of concept and price range, so it might be a good fit.

I really like EAT - there’s one below my office and I use it quite a lot. However, I’m also a veggie, so will probably enjoy having a Veggie Pret there instead.

It’s a shame EAT is going, but I suppose there’s little point in Pret maintaining a second brand. If they own all the intellectual property too, they may even end up selling some of the same products.

Oh I like EAT, their soups are way better than Pret!

I always found it a bit bland compared to Pret, Leon, Itsu etc. Won’t miss it (but now wfh anyway!).

Noooooo! Their gyoza dumpling soup has kept me going through pregnancy!

Ahh I used to love EAT. More variety than Pret and I loved their hot pots. I wouldn't go to a veggie Pret but I also don't go to normal Pret; had one too many undercooked things... they always refunded; but it ruined lunch a bit!

Prefer EAT to Pret (as a veggie).

EAT do a breakfast toastie which is basically a smear of cheese and marmite, and it kept me going on many mornings when I worked in London. I had one the other week for old times sake and it was as lovely as I remembered it. I will miss those...

The reason EAT and Pret are so simlar is that EAT was started by a few people who left Pret. I always found them to be slightly lower quality than Pret but was good that they did different things more recently! I haven't been to a veggie Pret but i think they have a lot of variety so should still be good :)

I will miss Eat, their gyoza soup was good. But tbh the one near my work is so quiet compared to an ever bustling Pret.

I am thoroughly anti veggie pret though- such a gimmick!

Ugh, more Pret. There are 3 within 50 feet of my office all selling the exact same overpriced crap. I don't like EAT much either, but anything is better than our future of every high street store being a vape shop or a bloody Pret.

I started to notice this over the half term, that the Eat shops i used to see were now Pret, and I mentioned to my son who loves Eat over pret, that I’m sure pret have bought Eat.. now it all makes sense.

I like some things in Eat and others from Pret although I’m getting bored of Pret so I guess I will also be missing Eat once they all finally go. I used to work for pret back in the day where there were only about 20 of them in the square mile. I remember everyone thinking how “natural” they were and that we were making everything single thing from scratch.. no luv, everything was still from ready made tubs and packets.. we just made up the sandwiches on site

My son will no doubt want a farewell toasted sandwich from Eat now, lol

Oh yes, I like their toasties too! But have never tried the gyoza dumpling soup. Maybe I shouldn't - you can't miss what you've never known!

I prefer EAT to Pret but there isn’t one near my office so Pret it is. It’s a crap Pret as well, the manager seems to go out of their way to pick the dullest, blandest sandwiches out of the range and only stock them. I really miss being able to get EAT soup for lunch.

The Eat by my office closed a couple of months back. I was excited thinking ww would get a veggie Pret. But no, we got a normal Pret even though there are 3 other Prets within a 2 minute walk. Swiz!

Don't like the bread at eat! I prefer prey 😋

Pret

I've never really used an EAT (feel I'm missing out now!) but I don't ge the point of an all veggie/vegan pret. Why not just have variety at all braches? It would be weird to have a meat only Pret!

Never even heard of them

There was an Eat by one of my clients, I went to that client yesterday and was really looking forward to my Eat treat. But no, it's closed. It had Pret hoardings so I assumed Pret had bought it. I had to go to bloody Le Pain Quotidian which is too poncy for its own good and overpriced to boot. Then M&S for lunch - which was fine

I'll miss Eat.

I won't miss it. It always felt a bit unfinished and half thought-through, in terms of both food and décor. Pret's better (although Leon is vastly superior to both) IMO.

I'm going to eat as many chicken pot pies as I can before it's gone for good!

I have heard of both, but don't have one close to be affected (the nearest Pret is 90 miles away and the nearest EAT about 170 miles away).

Hopefully if Pret is taken them over and changing them to veggie Pret, Pret may take on some of their more popular dishes as their own and sell the hotpots themselves. They would be silly not to offer the few dishes sold best to keep those customers.

Veggie prets? How awful!!

I’ve not forgiven EAT for stopping doing their chorizo and rocket baguette - one of the few ready made sandwiches out there that contained neither mayo or cheese. But I still liked them more than Pret, who put fucking Mayo in everything!
EAT soups were great, as was their chicken noodle salad.