There’s something Willy Wonka-ish about Julian Metcalfe, who changed the way Britons eat lunch not once, but twice.
First, when he co-founded Pret A Manger in 1986, making office workers realise sandwiches didn’t have to be stale, cardboard-like morsels, before selling the business to private equity house Bridgepoint for £364million in 2008.
It was then sold to the German conglomerate behind Krispy Kreme doughnuts for £1.5billion a decade later.
And next? There was no Maldivian beach break to celebrate a bulging bank account: he went straight to work on Itsu, which popularised healthy Japanese lunches when launched in 1997.
‘Of course, I was in early that day,’ he says. ‘What would I do with a day off?
‘I could never retire. No, no, no! How boring.’
I sit with Metcalfe, 64, on new, hot-pink chairs on the second day of trading of Itsu’s newest, and 86th, branch, on London’s Oxford Street.
Lunchtime legend: Pret A Manger and Itsu founder Julian Metcalfe says he is driven by the ambition of selling nutritious food for a price everyone can afford
His eyes fizzle with his passion for Itsu like Wonka throwing open the doors to his factory. ‘You only achieve anything by jumping in really deep,’ he says.
‘If we can succeed here,’ he says, waving his arms around, ‘on Oxford Street, where the rates and the rent are among the highest in the world, we can do it anywhere.
‘I like the risk. I like the fact that my ambition – that we can be bigger than McDonald’s – is preposterous. Because we’re giving people nutritious, affordable food for under ten quid, and that matters. That’s the goal, the joy, that’s the fun of it.
‘It’s cheaper to eat rubbish foods than good food. There’s more of it around, and it’s easier to prepare. It’s certainly easier to sell.’
Metcalfe eagerly pulls on a hair net for a tour of Itsu’s kitchen. ‘Look at this – so many ingredients and processes, you may think, “Christ, what a lot of hassle!” Don’t underestimate how difficult it is to serve food on Oxford Street for £5.
‘In January we are launching mini brown rice bowls, for £4. £4! All brown rice. Of course, we would make far more money with white rice, but it’s not the point. Rubbish food is killing us all.
‘I’m driven by the ambition of selling nutritious food for a price everyone can afford. This won’t happen from big companies, you need brave, mad people to do it.’
As the multi-millionaire founder of two major high street food brands which collectively employ more than 10,000 people in the UK, you’d think the Government would have been in touch at some point.
‘No, that lot aren’t interested in what I think,’ says Metcalfe. ‘I’ve never met Starmer. The only good thing I can say about what the Government is doing to us is that we’re all in the same boat. When they screw some of us with their weird policies, they screw all of us.’
The tycoon gestures at a bank of screens in the corner, where commuters and shoppers tap in their dumpling and sushi orders.
‘The screens are there because we were so scared of the Government continuously raising [employment] taxes,’ he says.
‘Very soon we’ll be paying staff £16 an hour, I should think. That’s a good thing for our staff. But we want our food to be affordable – so where you can have a machine to take orders, you have to do it.
‘We have three Japanese robots in every Itsu kitchen, making nguri, folding maki and pressing rice. One robot can do the job of three people. They cost £100,000, but they don’t go on holiday and they don’t work from home.’
Itsu’s turnover grew 17 per cent to £187million this year, with £120million from restaurants and the rest from Itsu Grocery, which sells snacks and meals in 107,000 shops across Europe.
‘Grocery will do £100million in 2025, it’s growing at 31 per cent a year,’ Metcalfe says.
‘In ten years, we’ll have 500 Itsus, one day: thousands. We’ll take sushi to Japan and China, with the right partner.
‘We need more long-term thinking in this country, like Bournville had with its chocolate. Business is very short term now – we need to reverse that.’
Metcalfe, an Old Harrovian whose grandfather Edward was best man to the newly abdicated Edward VIII at his 1937 marriage to Wallis Simpson, believes government policy lacks this foresight.
‘Rates are more than rent in many places now, it’s criminal. Rates are mind-bogglingly expensive,’ he says, hitting ‘tiny businesses all over the country’.
‘Then,’ he adds, ‘there’s the cost of part-time employees.’
The hospitality sector has warned of a 73 per cent rise in the tax bill for employing a part-time worker after the Government cut National Insurance thresholds.
‘That hurts many dads and mums who are looking after children and can only work 20 hours a week.
‘They will cost employers nearly double. So what’s going to happen? You can’t employ them. Just so many stupid decisions.’
Groundbreaking: Metcalfe co-founded Pret A Manger in 1986 before selling the business to private equity house Bridgepoint for £364m in 2008
Metcalfe is certainly a details man. His eyes repeatedly wander to the overhead screens above the counter – he’s upset that chicken soup options are in the wrong font size. He rearranges sushi boxes to perfect the display and makes notes for the manager.
In part, this is why Metcalfe has just rehired Clive Schlee, his Pret chief executive for 16 years, to the same role at Itsu. Schlee was previously Itsu’s chairman. He left his day job running Pret in 2019.
‘I could just tell he was ready for one last huge job in his life,’ Metcalfe reports. ‘We’re bloody lucky to have him. Clive is a very unusual leader: his focus is entirely on people and the culture.’
Metcalfe now intends to focus on the grocery businesses, which he says is creative and innovative.
Shades of Wonka perfecting an everlasting gobstopper emerge as he describes the shift he put in yesterday.
‘I was making noodles all day in our office, trying different weights with different levels of water versus the broth. Making sure it’s just right.’
Last month, he flew to Asia to visit noodle factories in Thailand and Vietnam, and broth kitchens in Japan. ‘It was the most amazing eight days I’ve ever had.’
This is no fan of conspicuous consumption. He owns one watch. ‘It’s 15 years old and why would I want another?’
He doesn’t like cars – ‘and I can’t drive mine anyway’ – his licence was revoked for using a mobile while driving in September. He struggles to pin down his Itsu salary, eventually saying it’s £250,000 ‘but I don’t do it for the money’.
Instead, his pride comes from the fact that three of his seven children work with him: son Misha works in the grocery arm.
Daughter Celeste, whom Metcalfe only learnt about 15 years ago, when she was a teenager, via a bombshell phonecall from an ex-girlfriend, is on Itsu’s board.
Artist son Billy, meanwhile, created the packaging for Itsu’s Zen drinks. Will one of them take over? ‘Hopefully, but we’ll see if they want it.’
Metcalfe has more certainty about Itsu ‘definitely’ overtaking Pret as his most famous legacy, especially internationally.
Pret has almost 700 shops worldwide. Itsu’s only international stores are in France and Belgium, with one opening in the Netherlands imminently.
‘Most countries don’t eat refrigerated brown bread sandwiches, but they all eat brown rice, noodles, and broth,’ he says. ‘Itsu has a much more international menu. It will be huge.’
Metcalfe still owns a 60 per cent stake, alongside Bridgepoint. He clearly feels a responsibility to his 1,300 staff, whose make-up has changed since the pandemic.
‘In 1990, when they opened the European borders, it was all Spanish, Italian, and French staff, which was amazing, because they had so much love for food, and service.
‘Since Covid, it’s gone back to English. Our shop in Bath is 100 per cent UK staff. Years ago, there used to be 50 applicants per every Pret job, but that makes you [the employer] spoilt and lazy. Now it’s probably five.
‘You have to look after people more, teach them more, invest in them more. It’s a good thing. If you want great food, it’s got to be made with pride and joy.’
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