Starbucks in Finland!?

[singeroi]

I like pret a manager better wish we have them here.. im a sandwhich and cofee fan!
pret personnel

[sinikala]

I like pret a manager better wish we have them here.. im a sandwhich and cofee fan!
pret personnel

Pret a Manger not manager.

Most of them are in the UK, New York and Hong Kong. Seems like a Starbucks clone to me.

[carolinemaher]

Pret started off with just a few shops in London with the emphasis on fresh, preservative free food made on the premises daily, and at the end of the day all the un-sold food is given to homeless charities, so they seemed like their heart is in the right place - shame they sold part of their chain to MacDonalds a while back so they could expand abroad! - still, unlike Starbucks though, the coffee is great and their food really is delicious.. I'd LOVE it if they came to Helsinki anyway!

[sinikala]

Pret started off with just a few shops in London with the emphasis on fresh, preservative free food made on the premises daily, and at the end of the day all the un-sold food is given to homeless charities, so they seemed like their heart is in the right place - shame they sold part of their chain to MacDonalds a while back so they could expand abroad! - still, unlike Starbucks though, the coffee is great and their food really is delicious.. I'd LOVE it if they came to Helsinki anyway!

Having never heard of them (I don't get to London all that often) until I read an article about them on a plane a couple of years ago (I think the owners had just sold the company for a huge pile of filthy lucre), I had no opinion either way.

But last December, desperate for something to eat and a sit down we popped into the Pret in the middle of Oxford, (there weren't many alternatives). It was about 4 in the afternoon and they had almost nothing left to eat. I suppose it's easy to say you give unsold food to charity when you sell out of almost everything 2 hours before closing time.

Me, I couldn't discern any difference between Pret / Starbucks / Roberts / Häagen Dazs or any other coffee shop chain I've been in, they are all seem the same to me; a slightly upmarket version of McDonalds. Which is not a bad thing, I just don't see much difference.

[carolinemaher]

That's probably because they close at 5! You can't tell the difference between Pret and MacDonlads food? how bizarre! and everyone is a snob who goes in one of the coffee shops, yawn! What were you doing going in one then?Anyway, at the end of the day I'm just saying I'd like a Pret in Helsinki, no need to get your knickers in a twist.

[sinikala]

That's probably because they close at 5! You can't tell the difference between Pret and MacDonlads food? how bizarre! and everyone is a snob who goes in one of the coffee shops, yawn! What were you doing going in one then?Anyway, at the end of the day I'm just saying I'd like a Pret in Helsinki, no need to get your knickers in a twist.

The concept is the same as McDonalds, not the food. I couldn't say anything about the Pret food, could I ... they'd run out.

Meh.

[Bubba Elvis XIV]

Whats that other one in the UK...Necros or something...

[Rosamunda]

I remember having a snack in Pret a Manger in Heathrow a while ago and the sandwiches were really very good. I don't think the prices were outrageously expensive either (relatively speaking, it was Heathrow...). They don't do burgers and fries and things like that. I guess Subway is like MacDo (fast food, processed, industrially produced). IMO there is a BIG difference between Subway and Pret.

But I gave up drinking posh coffee, fruities and smoothies in town yonks ago. It's such a rip off...

[Bubba Elvis XIV]

I never drink those fancy pants coffees...WTF is a mochachino-frappe-latte anyway?

I guess I'm not sophisticated enough to drink coffee in those places.

Oh, and thanks for your music recommendation Starf@cks...I guess I am also just not cool enough to like that dirge like crap.

I will confess I do go to Necros when back home cos my vegan-anarchist punk friend likes to use his bonus/loyalty piece of scrap paper ( ) and i am a sucker for their cake selection.

[carolinemaher]

Maybe you mean Cafe Nero? I like that too, they do great sandwiches the hot meatball/mozzarella panini is delish, mmm..

[Bubba Elvis XIV]

It's Necros to us....

[Argentiinalainen]

i wish I go to Suomi soon so I have GREAT coffee!

[onkko]

i wish I go to Suomi soon so I have GREAT coffee!

Great compared on what? i think we have good coffee but someone e.g. usa may think differently. there is no great coffee there is different tastes and habits.

[Bubba Elvis XIV]

Finnish coffee is good. And better than the instant crap we drink in the UK and thank god you drink coffee here and not tea (yes, yes yes...how can you not like tea and be English? I don't like football much either).

Then I went to portugal....and was that coffee good or what?!?

[Pursuivant]

Dunno, my experience of London fine eating was I found a nice tea house tucked between an Iceland and some hairdresser on the high street in Wolfhamstow was it.. don't remember if they had coffee, but it was filled with old geezers eating beans and toast so I opted for that. Didn't see much anything green on the menu tho...