Pret A Manger has announced a new monthly subscription service designed specifically for customers who can no longer keep track of which coffee chains are taking £25 out of their account every month.
The Subscription Fatigue Subscription, launching at £24.99 per month, promises to help overwhelmed consumers manage their various food and drink memberships by providing a dedicated app that reminds them which subscriptions they have, when they last used them, and whether they’re essentially just donating to Caffè Nero at this point.
The service comes as research shows the average British consumer now spends £127 per month on food subscriptions they meant to cancel after the free trial, including three separate coffee memberships, a bakery loyalty scheme they signed up for in a moment of weakness, and something called ‘PizzaPod’ that they genuinely cannot remember agreeing to.
“I opened my banking app last Tuesday and had a full existential crisis,” said Manchester-based teacher Rebecca Collins, 34. “Pret, Greggs, Caffè Nero, some place called Bean Machine I don’t think I’ve ever been to. I’m spending more on subscription teas I forget to claim than I am on my actual weekly shop. At least with this new subscription I’ll know exactly how much money I’m wasting, which feels like progress?”
The Subscription Fatigue Subscription includes helpful features such as push notifications asking “Are you actually going to Pret today or are you just letting money evaporate into the corporate ether again?”, a monthly shame report comparing how much you’ve paid versus how much you’ve actually saved, and a gentle reminder that you could simply buy a coffee when you want one like people did in 2019.
Pret’s Chief Innovation Officer David Brennan defended the new offering, insisting it fills a genuine gap in the market. “We noticed customers were experiencing subscription paralysis. They’d stand outside our shops, phones in hand, trying to remember if they still had their Club Pret membership or if they’d cancelled it during that brief period in May when they convinced themselves they were going to make coffee at home.”
He added: “This subscription helps them manage that anxiety, which they can then invest into different anxiety, like wondering whether they should also get the premium tier of the Subscription Fatigue Subscription for an extra £8.99 a month.”
Early adopters report mixed feelings about the service. London-based accountant Michael Foster, 41, admitted he’d already forgotten he’d signed up for it. “I got the reminder email about my Subscription Fatigue Subscription renewal and thought it was spam,” he said. “Turns out I now have a subscription to help me remember my subscription subscription. I’m not sure this is helping, but I respect the commitment to the bit.”
Pret has confirmed the subscription will automatically renew monthly and can be cancelled at any time, provided customers can remember their login details and navigate through seventeen different menu screens, at least three of which will have mysteriously changed since they last checked.
