By Becky Barrow
It sells a lot of sushi wraps, coconut water, kale crisps, wild crayfish with rocket sandwiches and double berry muffins.
But nothing is more popular at Pret a Manger, the healthy fast food chain, than something which is a lot simpler and more traditional.
Its bestselling product last year was just a bowl of porridge, the company said yesterday.
Pret a Manger said its £2.35 ‘porridge pots’ were its bestselling item last year, selling more than 3.2million pots in the UK, equal to around 8,800 every day.
With just 243 calories in each 300g pot – compared to 616 calories in its All-Day Breakfast Roll – its porridge is also one of its more slimming options for breakfast.
Pret has only been selling porridge since 2010, and its popularity has surged recently.
Sales rose by ten per cent last year, compared to 2012, even managing to beat the previous bestseller – bananas – into second place in the 2013 league table of Pret’s most popular foods.
Such is its enthusiasm for porridge that it has specially trained ‘porridge chefs’ to make its breakfast bestseller.
It is stirred ‘gently but continuously’ until it is cooked to avoid lumps, and must be removed immediately from the heat when it is ready to stop it from becoming too gloopy.
The revelation comes after porridge has seen a huge surge in popularity as a healthy alternative to sugary and expensive breakfast cereals.
It is said to be the regular breakfast choice of celebrities and politicians from the Prime Minister, David Cameron, to Madonna, Nicole Kidman and Bill Gates.
After the London bombings in 2005, the former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, is said to have turned down a three-course lunch at the Gleneagles Hotel in favour of a bowl of porridge served with cream and Drambuie-laced raspberries.
Traditionally, the Scottish would have eaten porridge in its purest form, made with hot water with a pinch of salt for taste.
Today porridge is often just a useful vehicle for a large pool of maple syrup, a mountain of brown sugar or a generous portion of cream.
Pret offers two free toppings for their customer’s porridge pots – a berry compote or honey. Honey is the most popular option, it said yesterday.
A recent report, by the retail analysts Mintel, found the value of porridge sales have nearly doubled over the last six years to nearly £250million a year.
Medical research has shown that oats are important for the diet because they help to reduce the level of blood cholesterol, which is associated with clogged arteries.
A warming bowl in the morning is also a relatively cheap and good source of slow release carbohydrates which helps people to feel full and maintain energy levels.
It is possible to buy a 1kg pack of porridge oats for as little as 75p while a 1kg box of Kelloggs Cornflakes costs £3.39.
Overall, Pret said it sells more cold-pressed vegetable juices, such as carrot juice, than Super Club sandwiches. The ‘classic’ is made from chicken, bacon, tomatoes, salad and mayonnaise.
Its financial results, published yesterday, show annual sales jumped by 15 per cent last year to £510million in the year ending on 2 January.
In 2013, it opened another 40 new shops, including 26 in the UK. The other 14 were in America, Hong Kong and France, raising its total number of shops worldwide to 352.
Pret was opened in 1986 by two former surveyors, Julian Metcalfe and Sinclair Beecham, who said they were fed up with not being able to find a decent sandwich at lunchtime.
A few years ago, it was criticised by the former employment minister, Chris Grayling, after one branch in London appeared to be staffed entirely by foreigners.
At the time, he said: It is certainly a situation that I find unacceptable. Of course, this country has benefitted from people coming in from other countries to work.
‘But I want to see more young people in positions in this country and I want…to see them getting jobs that become vacant, rather than people coming into the UK.’
Yesterday Pret said it created 600 new jobs worldwide last year, and has doubled the size of its UK school leavers programme to 18 people.
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