Ex Pret A Manger CEO re-appointed as CEO

Original article at **expret.org** ←

Ex Pret A Manger CEO re-appointed as CEO

This time for itsu, which he already half owns. With itsu founder Julian Metcalfe’s angry “foot-in-mouth” disease, and Metcalfe’s former business partner Sinclair Beecham back in Pret, it seems like Metcalfe needs a sweet-talker in itsu. And who better to sweet-talk staff, the public and the press than Clive Schlee.

Photo: Parker

Link to article.

Pardon me upfront for spoiling it again and bringing another side to the PR story we’re always presented with. For new readers, I take you behind the scenes of Pret and peel off the PR sweet-talk of Pret as well as itsu and its executive teams.

Clive Schlee, a CEO who snuck out of Pret and is snuck back into being CEO via itsu.

But say, who is Jason Cotta whom Clive Schlee “replaces”?

Interesting how this piece of news is announced on a Friday, enough time for journalists to draft a report for the massive Sunday papers when many business leaders are off. ;-)

Julian Metcalfe and Clive Schlee

When I confronted Julian Metcalfe, itsu founder and Pret A Manger RE-co-founder on Twitter regarding itsu staff reviews on him, he was NOT placed as the CEO of itsu on Glassdoor. I have to find the screenshot of the guy who was on Glassdoor as itsu CEO in 2021.

I put some of Metcalfe’s tweets on my blog and video platforms before he deleted everything incl. his Twitter account back in 2021.

[embed]

But who is Jason Cotta? And why are journalists not digging deeper? Laziness? Lack of interest? Kissing boots of rich business men?

AFTER my “encounter” with Metcalfe on Twitter, Julian “became” the CEO of itsu on Glassdoor and all the negative reviews where he personally was mentioned by staff disappeared. They only exist on the screenshots I took. See YouTube slide here below of Metcalfe’s deleted tweets and Twitter account. Please note, my handle used to be @LateNightGirlMe after Clive Schlee patronised me in my traumatic grief, emailing everyone:

One of his Tweets I didn’t include in above slide is where he claimed his staff “begged” him to stay on zero hour contacts! What a clown! Imagine that already low paid workers wanting “flexibility” as if they had the money to be off work. If staff have the luxury to have flexible time in their lives, they’d not be working in sh!t places like itsu, Pret, McDonald’s… in the first place! Never have I been held for such an idiot like this. And keep in mind Clive Schlee is involved with itsu since its early days and since decades Clive owns half of the company. He’s AS MUCH involved as his entitled buddy Metcalfe.

After only 2 days on Twitter, Metcalfe closed his account! Didn’t have a leg to stand on! He retweeted the wrong person’s posts! So much to being media savvy! Does itsu not have a PR department holding the reins tighter on Metcalfe?

In hindsight, this had Kamala Harris — Donald Trump debate vibes! I couldn’t believe he kept re-tweeting me! I even remember thinking “keep talking Julian, keep talking” while busy grabing screen shots! :-D

Clive Schlee, who “retired” in 2019 owns half of itsu, becoming itsu’s CEO is a test or provocation on how the British public takes more bullshit from these entitled people.

I write extensively about how Schlee patronised me during traumatic bereavement: **Clive Schlee’s Legacy**.

My exposé on net-worth £215 million itsu founder and Pret RE-co-founder Julian Metcalfe, his friendship with Clive Schlee, his love for zero hour contracts and robots, his connection to the Royal family, a questionable connection (Jeffrey Epstein), what staff say about him, why some Asian people don’t like him and how I chased him off Twitter, now X.

**Julian Metcalfe’s Family Line ←**

Sinclair Beecham and Pano Christou

(Sinclair Beecham, the “secret CEO” of Pret?)

Sinclair Beecham, the other RE-co-founder of Pret is also now back in Pret after current CEO Pano Christou with his over 20 years in Pret has his head in the sand regarding customer complaints, high staff turnover, £700 million debt and other issues. (**£800,000 fine** after ignoring safety issues yet again, and another staff got trapped in a freezer for close to 3 hours fighting for her life.)

Now the happy family of Pret and itsu goes as follows:

Metcalfe / Schlee (itsu)

and

Beecham / Christou (Pret)

Bridgepoint (now owns itsu / formerly owned Pret between 2008–2018).

JAB Holdings / Reimann family currently own Pret since 2018.

It’s not Pret “versus” itsu, but Pret “and” itsu back in the fight to fool the public. They’re one big family out for more money and Schlee trying to get his fuzzy spot back with the press and the public.

They hope that grass has grown over their neglect for customer safety and staff exploitation. I keep mowing.

Clive Schlee former CEO of Pret ignored customer deaths and injuries before it got public, together with Pano Christou who was UK Managing Director then, and is now CEO of Pret.

I call Sinclair Beecham the “Secret CEO” of Pret A Manger and explain why in **Is Sinclair Beecham Saving Pret?**

Podcast appearance and Clive Schlee’s PRIORITY

Schlee had a podcast appearance earlier in 2024 with two Austrian guys, one of which used to work at Pret (Bauer). Schlee has a main residence in Austria where he also used to have executive meetings and takes people on a hike, while his main staff suffered in London and around other countries.

In this podcast interview Schlee was asked typical business questions like how a CEO deals with challenge, crisis etc. He started with what the most challenging issue was with itsu and then with Pret.

In the podcast Schlee’s biggest set-back in itsu was the 2. shop he and Metcalfe opened. In Pret his biggest challenge was the 2008 financial crisis, NOT the customer deaths and injuries. In fact, the customer fatalities and injuries are not mentioned even once.

Full podcast, link: **https://podfollow.com/1737382333/episode/b27cf516d95025184ada3e5**

Not one time does Schlee acknowledge the deaths of 2 customers and multiple injuries of people, some who landed in hospital from unlabelled allergens. Schlee did the usual sweet-talk and even distanced himself from responsibility, saying that decisions are “democratic”. It’s his typical way to pass the buck to others.

Repeat: Schlee’s podcast interview and NOT ONE mention on customer fatalities and injuries!

For new readers to my blog, please familiarise yourself with Pret’s extremely strict and micromanaging mystery shopper scheme, forcing staff to portray a happiness or they get penalised.

Clive Schlee here in the podcast is talking his typical La La Land sweet-talk, in delusion or plain denial how staff suffer.

I write about Pret’s mystery shopper scheme, which since around 2016-ish is done via **HGEM** which are also mystery shopper providers for itsu. HGEM blocked me on Twitter after I posted to them how much I suffered, to the point of suicide, under Pret’s abusive and humiliating mystery shopper scheme. So far to a company that provides a service to make people “happy”.

Please see **The Dangers of Emotional Labour** on Pret’s mystery shopper scheme. There’s a reason why I renamed it as “misery” shopper.

> We’re witnessing the biggest piss-take in the history of Pret A Manger

Metcalfe/Schlee and Beecham/Christou.

• Julian Metcalfe in 2024 **threw Pret under** the bus
• while Sinclair **Beecham tries to save Pret**
• Schlee, who got the Pret CEO gig from Metcalfe … and mentored (diaper changed) current Pret CEO Pano Christou …
• will either try to throw Christou under the bus OR for old time’s sake MERGE itsu with Pret. You’ve read it here first!

Hey! Why hasn’t that happened before? But from observing Pret and itsu, with Metcalfe having thrown Pret under the bus recently, I guess they like to stay at arms length, still supporting each other.

Metcalfe is a more ruthless boss, while Schlee is more timid and fools his way through the business world with sweet-talk and a **touchy-touchy approach**. Sinclair Beecham rolls up his sleeves, being back in Pret, already having pumped money into Pret during the pandemic. Pano Christou, who learnt from Schlee is busy portraying himself as this great CEO in the press.

Pret, with the money-power of JAB Holdings bought EAT, with EAT’s former CEO Andrew Walker (former Pret UK Managing Director) “resigning” after his “visit” to Schlee’s Austrian residence. Ooops! Tell us more Mr. Schlee.

In 2021 **I chased Julian Metcalfe off Twitter ←**

Clive Fretwell and his lawsuit against itsu

The biggest set-back for Schlee in regards to itsu was when he and Metcalfe opened the second itsu shop and ran into massive financial challenges.

Here is where Clive Fretwell comes in, whom Schlee of course doesn’t mention in the podcast interview. Fretwell won a Tribunal case against Metcalfe and Schlee, and was rewarded an undisclosed sum.

Quote from below article:

»Clive Fretwell, who had worked for 14 years at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, told a Woburn employment tribunal he had been recruited in 1988 to help develop a chain of Itsu restaurants.

He said the intention had been to give him a 2.5% founding stake in the business and an additional 10% in two years, with the possibility of “big money” if it were sold.

When a second restaurant, which opened two years later, failed to live up to expectations, Fretwell claimed he became aware that Metcalfe and itsu co-director Clive Schlee were trying to get rid of him.

He said he was told last July that the company could not afford his salary, and he was dismissed in August.

The compensation agreed was undisclosed.«

Link to article: **https://www.thecaterer.com/all-content/fretwell-wins-unfair-dismissal-claim**

So, “retired” Clive Schlee is back on the fast-food scene. How does the press, and more importantly, how do customers deal with it?

Clive Schlee for sure can’t let Pano Christou take all the applause together with Sinclair Beecham. Are Metcalfe and Schlee trying to puff their chests out to shout to the public that THEY are still relevant?

For sure, all these four entitled prats are one big happy family, squeezing the heck out of low-wage staff and continue to rip off customers. I named Clive Schlee the Ronald McDonald Clown of Pret for his role as Pret CEO being the smiley facade to the public while staff were/are exploited and patronised.

Itsu will now get its own clown. Pardon for being so blunt, but after how Schlee called me his “late night girl” when I became traumatically ill with emailing. And then weeks later gave the green light for HR to fire me after I declined Pret’s “hush money”, not signing a NDA, and days after my dad came out of a three-week coma. Not to mention how he and Pano ignored customer deaths and injuries before it got public, he deserves the clown title. And that is even too mild!

I have a feeling that after Metcalfe threw Pret under the bus in the press earlier in 2024 while his former business partner Sinclair Beecham being back in Pret trying to fix the £700 million debt in Pret and the aggressive expansion, as tasked by the Reimanns, Metcalfe places Schlee as CEO into itsu as an internal competition to Beecham/Christou?

Just a thought.

Also, worth noting that itsu continues to have **product recalls due to either mislabeling or wrong ingredients in their food, as well as [customer reviews](https://www.trustpilot.com/review/itsu.com?sort=recency&stars=1)** of “foul” fish, chicken etc.

— —

Check **Trustpilot** for more reviews along those lines.

As well as **74% of customers on Trustpilot (1&2 star reviews combined as of September 2024) disapprove of Pret on a variety of issues, many having sworn to never set foot inside Pret again. Hence, Sinclair Beecham was called back to fix the mess while Pano Christou is busy telling the media what a “[rags to riches](https://expret.org/2021/03/07/pret-pano-christou-rags-to-riches)**” star he is.

Today is the 27.09.2024 and let’s see when Clive Schlee will be placed on Glassdoor. Unless Metcalfe remains there to take the credit, and Schlee is still “traumatised” from his review score on Glassdoor.

Little side note: Metcalfe recently got his **drivers license suspended** for 6 months for using his mobile phone while driving.

Customers and the Press may forget, but exploited Staff never forget

Clive Schlee certainly left Pret with a “legacy” and then placed Christou on Glassdoor two months before Schlee “retired”. See the date on the top right, 30 June 2019. In July 2019 Pano Christou was placed on Glassdoor even though Schlee “retired” from Pret in September 2019. A customer pointed out the bad scoring of Schlee when Schlee was still on Twitter. Schlee also remained as CEO on Twitter until July 2020. Couldn’t let go. And Pano Christou deleted his Twitter account in July 2019 when Schlee’s “retirement” was announced. Christou is on LinkedIn where people in the business world tell him all day long how great he is.

Clive Schlee 30 June 2019

Pano Christou 12 July 2019

And what shop managers, HQ staff, even OPs (area) manager say about Pret incl. Pano Chtistou: **Pret CEO Reputation with Staff ←**

Not to mention Clive Schlee’s ranking as a CEO (2014) having been towards the bottom in comparison with other company CEOs:

Link

And the challenge by animal rights activists to Clive Schlee, who’s on the Board of Directors for Dairy Farm Group, one of the largest retail companies in Asia, regarding chicken welfare:

Link

Jeffrey Hyman, Founder of Pret

Let’s not forget, or let’s learn who started Pret. And let’s continue the conversation in how Pret / Metcalfe / Beecham / Schlee / Christou REFUSE to mention and honour him.

A friend of the late Jeffrey Hyman who tweeted a remembrance on Hyman’s anniversary of his death, told me on Twitter that Pret employed someone to keep changing the Wikipedia entry on Pret to delete any mention of Hyman. The person got banned eventually.

Screenshot of my conversation with Hyman’s friend:

Do your own research on any company or organisation when they sound too good to be true. And always **check your food**!

— —

— —

— —

etc. etc. etc.

[embed]

Again, who is Jason Cotta whom Clive Schlee “replaces”? Isn’t Schlee replacing Metcalfe? Or who was the CEO of itsu? Metcalfe certainly must have gotten the negative reviews on him deleted off Glassdoor to “build” a faux legacy KNOWING how I at least collect screenshots after I chased him off Twitter / X.

Who is Jason Cotta? Unless it was him whom I saw on Glassdoor before I confronted Metcalfe on the terrible itsu staff reviews about him. I have to search for the screenshots of Glassdoor itsu CEO in 2020. Upon doing just a few minutes of digging online, Jason Cotta seems to fill in spots in various companies. He seems to jump from company to company, as a filler? He’s not named as itsu’s CEO as far as I can find.

And as a reminder or something new for those who don’t follow Pret issues, Clive Schlee several times quoted his wife who said that, quote: “**any damn fool can run Pret**”. Well, the fool’s back.

I changed Pret’s logo to reflect the reality. Please note, that since 2018 Pret are banned from claiming their food is “natural”. But even the “freshly made” slogan **is a lie**. What could itsu be changed into to reflect reality?

— —

Most people try to gaslight me that all the stuff I’ve been through since 2015 is no big deal. A recent comment on social media below at the end. Thank you for acknowledging. It means a lot to me.

And a last little side note, Pret have the Pret Foundation Trust where they supposedly help former homeless people and ex-prisoners into work. I and an OPs manager asked Pret if I can be placed under someone from the Pret Foundation due to my traumatic loss, the bullying in Pret, despite me having worked 7 years very successfully when my brother died. I have that request in writing.

Pret never responded.

Their Pret Foundation is just a smoke screen to hide how they really treat staff and for PR. I encourage people to do some research into Trusts. Those are not only perfect for tax breaks, but Trusts are not scrutinised like businesses are. I really recommend watching this little part from a **documentary about offshore tax havens**. And then it will also ring bells why Pret since the pandemic have placed donation devices very close next to payment devices. Customers then accidentally in a rush tap the donation device, unwillingly donate £5 and then being prompted again to pay and tap the payment device. Katchink!

And Pret make it hard to get a refund as the refund is issued by the company (GoodBox) who collects the donations on Pret’s behalf. And Pret know how customers most likely are embarrassed to request a refund from “charity”. Never trust a Trust and a billion-pound heavy company that have Trusts under the “charity” umbrella!

— —

— —

And many more complaints like this. And low and behold, it’s “proving very popular with Pret customers” with Pret having had a 122% increase in donations! When I worked at Pret, the donation boxes where 99% filled with pennies and 5p coins max. VERY rarely was there £1 and £2 coins or bank notes. So yes, a £5 donation by default via machines … katchink!

— —

The money grab is everywhere. And Pret’s current owners, the 2. richest family in Germany, the secretive Reimann family run Pret, Krispy Kreme, Panera and a host of other companies via JAB Holdings in tax haven Luxembourg. JAB also aggressively buy out veterinarian practices and entered the pet insurance market, all to the detriment of pet health and pet owners’ pockets. The good news is, that US **Senator Elizabeth Warren is coming after JAB**.

Check who owns your vet and support small independent businesses who would get shut down with ONE customer fatality.

And I wish that itsu gets a blogger exposing them like Pret has with my blog. But I fear, I will remain the only one after **Andrej Stopa and another former staff’s Facebook “[I hate Pret](https://www.facebook.com/preth8ers)**” page.

I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO **Clive Schlee. Schlee has been appointed CEO of itsu in 2024 by Julian Metcalfe who gave him the CEO spot at Pret many years ago. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “[My Ordeal with Pret A Manger](https://www.mindmeister.com/1194255218/my-pret-a-manger-ordeal)”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post. An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: [Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret](https://expret.org/2019/10/28/caught-in-the-act-at-pret) and [What shop MANAGERS & HQ staff](https://expret.org/2023/09/19/pret-ceo-reputation-with-staff) say about Pret incl. CEO Pano Christou. I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the [Scottish Left Review](https://expret.org/2020/02/12/pret-scottish-left-review) as well as mentioned by the [BBC](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59634846)**.

Please also see the **MEDIA** page for more on my work with the press.

NEW **LinkTree**

**PayPal.Me ←**

Thank you for reading/listening.

©2017 — Present: expret.org

Unless otherwise stated or linked to, this website and all writings within this site are the property of expret.org and are protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. Reproduction and distribution of my writings without written permission is prohibited. ©2017 — Present: expret.org unless otherwise stated. All Rights reserved. Disclaimer.