Coffee and sandwich franchise Pret A Manger’s first Irish shop has opened in Dublin City Centre.
The popular UK coffee chain’s new shop on Dawson Street is the first of 20 locations set to open across the Republic and Northern Ireland over the next decade, creating approximately 500 jobs in total.
The Dawson Street shop will collaborate with several regional Irish vendors, and every day’s surplus food will be donated to Depaul Dublin by The Pret Foundation.
On Thursday, Pret offered free lunch to 300 lucky customers ahead of Friday’s official opening.
The 25 new Dublin staff are expecting to welcome approximately 10,000 customers over the next week, offering “the same great tasting products that Pret is known for, including freshly handmade food and organic coffee and teas, all prepared in the shop’s onsite kitchen daily”.
Guy Meakin, interim managing director for the UK and Ireland, said on Wednesday the chain had been waiting to enter the Irish market for “a number of years”.
Speaking earlier this week, Pret’s Dublin operations manager Mikey Mulqueen said: “I speak for the entire team when I say we are excited to open our doors and to provide our customers with the signature friendly Pret experience with great tasting food and coffee”.