Pret a Manger- a Case Study

The management of products, services, processes and supply chains is called Operation Management. The main consideration is towards the acquisition, development and utilization of resources that the firm will be requiring to satisfy the needs of their customers by delivering the right and correct goods and services. The services play an important role in the economy as it helps in financial services like financing and licensing, personal services and government services. The basic characteristics of services are intangibility, inseparability, perishability and heterogeneity. The world offers various kinds of services. Operation management makes sure that goods and services are delivered to the customers. Operation management is an integrative body of knowledge. The consumers who consume the good judge it from the value of the service they are offered. Pret a Manger, which is French for ‘ready to eat’, is described by Times as having refashioned the concept of sandwich making and eating. It was founded by Sinclair Beecham and Julian Metcalfe, two college friends in 1986. They identified an opportunity in London to introduce a healthy fast-food alternative to the fried fatty food menus around at the time. Their innovative venture paid off as people welcomed this change with open arms. Since the first store opened, Pret has been largely successful, expanding continuously in the UK and more recently abroad. Their corporate policy is to own and manage all new shops to control and enhance the brand and to ensure a high standard in all shops consistently. By 2001, Pret a Manger had 100 stores in Britain and was moving into the United States. Mr. Metcalfe and Mr. Beecham sold a third of the company to, of all companies, McDonald’s, for an estimated £26 million ($43 million). In 2008, McDonald’s sold its stake to a private investment firm Bridgepoint Capital for over £345 million. Pret is succeeding with just such an out-of-the-box approach. The organizational structure of