Pret A Manger Opens Third Chicago Store

LONDON--(Marketwire - Jun 24, 2011) - British restaurant favorite, Pret A Manger, purveyors of fresh, natural, preservative-free food, has opened its third Chicago storefront at 73 West Monroe St. This location is being introduced just six months after the UK eatery opened its second location in the Midwest market at 100 N. La Salle St. With its growing presence, Pret A Manger will better serve on-the-go Chicagoans with quick and convenient fresh sandwich, soup and salad options.

Pret's seasonally changing menu allows them to source food locally whenever possible allowing the stores to deliver the highest quality ingredients. In Chicago, Pret works with many local suppliers, including Organic Valley's Midwest dairy farms and local Chicago artisan bread maker Gonnella Baking Company.

"Since entering the Chicago market in September 2010 we've had an outpouring of positive feedback. As such, it was an easy decision to expand our footprint to a third location in the downtown area," said Martin Bates, president of Pret A Manger USA. "With this latest opening in the Loop we hope Chicagoans will continue to look to us for high quality, fresh food options."

Each day, Pret A Manger stores nationwide receive deliveries of natural ingredients to their kitchens, where sandwiches, salads, baguettes, soups and pastries are freshly made throughout the day. In Chicago, at the end of the day, all leftover food is donated to The Greater Chicago Food Depository. On average, Pret donates about 150-250 meals per day through this partnership.

The new Chicago store is located in the Loop at 73 West Monroe St. This location is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. - 7 p.m. Pret A Manger has plans to continue to expand in Chicago over the coming years. For more information about Pret A Manger, visit www.pret.com.

About Pret A Manger
Pret A Manger is headquartered in London where they opened their first store in 1986. Pret is a privately held company and now has over 265 store locations in the UK, Hong Kong, New York, Washington DC and Chicago. With a kitchen in every store, Pret creates handmade, natural, preservative-free ingredients prepared fresh from scratch every day. Pret A Manger means "Ready To Eat" in name and concept; it is fresh, convenient food -- fast. More information: www.pret.com.

About The Greater Chicago Food Depository
The Greater Chicago Food Depository, Chicago's food bank, is a nonprofit food distribution and training center providing food for hungry people while striving to end hunger in our community. The Food Depository distributes donated and purchased food through a network of 650 pantries, soup kitchens and shelters to 678,000 adults and children in Cook County every year. Last year, the Food Depository distributed 66 million pounds of nonperishable food and fresh produce, dairy products and meat, the equivalent of 135,000 meals every day. The Food Depository's programs and services for children, older adults and the unemployed and underemployed address the root causes of hunger. For more information, log onto www.chicagosfoodbank.org or call 773-247-FOOD.