I’m hoping that I can prove my wife’s assertion – that McDonalds owns Pret à Manger – to be plain wrong.
Even if she’s right, it’s still plain wrong, because the two brand stories couldn’t be more diametrically opposed.
I’m not one of those with a knee-jerk detestation of McDonalds and all that it does. In fact I’m a fan of the new story being created by their re-designed stores and menus. But it remains the most massive of mass-market brands, with the inevitable compromises that brings.
Pret on the other hand offers us a hundred perfectly-penned ‘passion facts’, which explain exactly how it isn’t like McDonalds or any other ‘fast-food chain’.
So there you have it, she’s wrong, and I can go back to my falafel and hummus sandwich that was made here, in this shop, today – “no sell-by date, no nightlife”.
I love this story, I don’t wanna hear your McFiction.