“There have been times over the last six months when you sit back and think to yourself: ‘My God, what’s going on?’”

Pret a Manger boss Pano Christou’s words sum up what has been a rollercoaster ride during his first year as a chief executive. 

When he took the reins from his long-serving predecessor Clive Schlee last October, Pret was in the midst of a crisis. It was rapidly and radically changing the labelling on all of its packaging in the wake of a tragedy that cost an allergic young girl her life, after she unknowingly ate a Pret baguette containing sesame while on a British Airways flight.