Ever since Pret A Manger opened its doors in 1986, its mission has been simple: to serve fresh food and do the right thing. The cafe chain offers quality handmade food that’s practical for takeaway, from filled baguettes and classic French pastries to salads, soups, and organic coffee. To make that possible, each of its 573 stores prepares every product, every day, in its own kitchen. And the company is focused on giving back to the community in more ways than one; at the end of each day, anything unsold goes to charity, and the company’s social efforts include a Coffee Fund that supports the next generation of farmers. It’s no wonder Pret A Manger ranks as the consumer favourite in the UK, where it’s fondly nicknamed Pret.
Today, the business also spans locations far beyond its London heartlands, including the US, Asia, and Europe. Helping every Pret shop to deliver on the mission, "to serve fresh food and do the right thing," and to serve customers within 60 seconds of them walking into a branch, is a support team operating from the retailer’s headquarters in London. There, technology is carefully selected, tested, and implemented before being rolled out globally to improve processes and ensure that employees can work as smoothly as possible.
"Being the general manager of a Pret shop isn’t easy," says Saville Midgley, Global Head of Infrastructure at Pret A Manger. "They have to make many decisions very quickly to ensure that everything is sailing smoothly all the time, from supporting staff behind the tills, to keeping shelves stocked, to delivering the efficient customer service that Pret is known for. So, from a technology perspective, the more we can automate and simplify things for staff, the better," he explains.
Saville and his team knew they needed to automate manual IT processes around identity and access management. The solution also needed to be compatible with Pret’s diverse technological environment. To make it happen, in 2018 they turned to Okta.
"We were introduced to Okta by our cybersecurity partner in 2018. Until that point, I had never heard of a single solution with so many integrations," Saville recalls. "Okta’s promise to reduce IT friction for users really resonates with us because, in retail, we need to work as slim, agile teams. Selecting the right tools to simplify our processes as much as possible is key in helping us do that," he says of the decision.
