A company called JAB Holdings, who already own Peet's Coffee, Einstein Bros, Krispy Kreme, and countless other lunchtime snack stops, are buying up Pret A Manger for £1.5bn.
What it means: Though we might take pride in saying we're totally loyal to our favourite lunch spot – you're an EAT person, or a Pret person, and that's just the way it is – it often turns out our sense of individualism is a bit of a con because these places are pretty much all owned by the same company.
JAB Holdings is one of those companies, though Nestle still holds top spot in the coffee market.
It's currently owned by a firm called Bridgepoint, who bought Pret for £346 million ten years ago – so they're getting a pret-ty (wa-hey) good deal out of all this.
Pret used to be just a single sandwich shop in Victoria, London. Now, there are 500 shops around the world, and seeing as we'll probably continue to be incapable of remembering to pack our own lunch so will keep on forking out 6 quid for a sandwich and some coffee instead, it's set to keep growing.
The only dent in the company's prospects is Brexit: only one in 50 job applicants to the firm in London are from the UK, which is making bosses slightly worried about who'll be pouring the coffee in a few years time.
