The British café chain EAT has finally ceased operations. This marks the end of almost a quarter of a century of its existence.
The brand released a statement on social media confirming its disappearance from UK high streets on Monday, with all stores now closed.
The announcement comes amid widespread temporary closures of other restaurants and retailers such as Costa Coffee and McDonald’s due to the coronavirus pandemic.
But the winding up of EAT began last year after the company was sold, and the announcement of the group’s final closure made no mention of the pandemic.
EAT and its 90 stores were bought by rival chain Pret A Manger last year for an undisclosed sum.
Read more: Pret A Manger snaps up EAT to give Veggie Pret stores a ‘turbo boost’
Many branches have since been converted into Pret branches, including the new Veggie Pret brand, which sells exclusively vegetarian products.
EAT said in a statement: “After 24 years of creating, preparing and serving real food, it’s time for us to say goodbye. Thank you to all our wonderful customers – we’ve loved every minute of our journey.”
FOOD. The Real Food Company is now closed.
After 24 years of creating, preparing and serving real food, it’s time for us to say goodbye.
Thank you to all our wonderful customers – we enjoyed every minute of our trip.
Kind regards, the EAT. team. pic.twitter.com/ti00odEMHF
— EAT News (@eat_news) 23 March 2020
Clive Schlee, CEO of Pret, said last May that the acquisition of EAT’s assets was a “wonderful opportunity to boost the development of Veggie Pret and devote significant resources to it”.
Pret itself was also forced to temporarily close its UK stores due to the coronavirus and government measures to contain the spread of the virus.
