I’ll just buy more robots – they won’t WFH: Itsu tycoon warns Labor is making it too expensive to hire

There’s something Willy Wonka-esque about Julian Metcalfe, who changed the way Brits eat lunch not once, but twice.

Firstly, when he co-founded Pret A Manger in 1986, helping office workers realize that sandwiches didn’t have to be stale, cardboard pieces, before selling the company to private equity house Bridgepoint for £364m in 2008.

Ten years later it was then sold for £1.5 billion to the German conglomerate behind Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

And after that? There was no beach holiday in the Maldives to celebrate a bulging bank account: he went straight to work with Itsu, which popularized healthy Japanese lunches when it launched in 1997.

“Of course I arrived early that day,” he says. ‘What would I do with a day off?

‘I could never retire. No, no, no! How boring.’

I sit with Metcalfe, 64, on new, bright pink chairs on the second day of trading at Itsu’s newest and 86th branch on London’s Oxford Street.

His eyes sparkle with his passion for Itsu, as Wonka throws open the doors of his factory. “You only achieve something if you jump in really deep,” he says.

“If we can succeed here,” he says, waving his arms, “in Oxford Street, where rates and rents are among the highest in the world, we can do it anywhere.

‘I like the risk. I like that my ambition – that we can be bigger than McDonald’s – is ridiculous. Because we give people nutritious, affordable food for less than ten pounds, and that matters. That’s the purpose, the joy, that’s the fun of it.

‘It’s cheaper to eat rubbish food than good food. There is more of it available and it is easier to prepare. It’s definitely an easier sell.”

Metcalfe eagerly dons a hairnet for a tour of Itsu’s kitchen. ‘Look, so many ingredients and processes, you might think: “Jesus, what a lot of hassle!” Don’t underestimate how difficult it is to serve food on Oxford Street for £5.

‘In January we’re launching mini brown rice bowls, for £4. £4! All brown rice. Of course we would make a lot more money with white rice, but that’s not the point. Waste food is killing us all.

‘I am driven by the ambition to sell nutritious food at a price that everyone can afford. This won’t happen at big companies, it takes brave, crazy people.’

As a multi-millionaire and founder of two major high street food brands, which together employ more than 10,000 people in Britain, you’d think the government would have been in touch at some point.

“No, those people aren’t interested in what I think,” says Metcalfe. ‘I’ve never met Starmer. The only good thing I can say about what the government is doing to us is that we are all in this together. If they screw some of us with their strange policies, they screw us all.”

The tycoon gestures to a row of screens in the corner, where commuters and shoppers take their orders for dumplings and sushi.

“The screens are there because we were so afraid that the government would continuously increase (labor) taxes,” he says.

‘We’ll soon be paying staff £16 an hour, I think. That’s a good thing for our staff. But we want our food to be affordable, so where you can have a machine to take orders, you should.

‘We have three Japanese robots in every Itsu kitchen that make nguri, fold maki and press rice. One robot can do the work of three people. They cost £100,000 but they don’t go on holiday or work from home.’

Itsu’s turnover grew 17 percent this year to £187 million, with £120 million coming from restaurants and the remainder from Itsu Grocery, which sells snacks and meals in 107,000 stores across Europe.

“The supermarket will generate £100m by 2025, growing at 31 per cent a year,” says Metcalfe.

‘In ten years we will have 500 Itsus in one day: thousands. We bring sushi to Japan and China, with the right partner.

‘We need more long-term thinking in this country, like Bournville did with his chocolate. Business is now very short-lived – we need to turn that around.”

Metcalfe, an old Harrovian whose grandfather Edward was best man for the newly abdicated Edward VIII at his 1937 wedding to Wallis Simpson, believes government policy lacks this foresight.

‘The rates are now higher than the rent in many places, it is criminal. The rates are mind-bogglingly expensive,” he said, hitting “small businesses across the country.”

“And then,” he adds, “there’s the cost of part-time employees.”

The hospitality sector has warned of a 73 percent increase in tax burden for hiring a part-time worker after the government lowered National Insurance thresholds.

‘That hurts many fathers and mothers who care for children and can only work twenty hours a week.

‘They will cost employers almost double. So what’s going to happen? You can’t hire them. There are so many stupid decisions.’

Metcalfe is certainly a detail man. His eyes repeatedly wander to the overhead screens above the counter – he’s angry because the chicken soup options are in the wrong font size. He rearranges the sushi boxes to perfect the presentation and takes notes for the manager.

This is partly why Metcalfe has just rehired Clive Schlee, Pret’s CEO for 16 years, for the same role at Itsu. Schlee was previously the chairman of Itsu. He left his day job running Pret in 2019.

“I could just tell he was ready for one last big job in his life,” Metcalfe reports. ‘We are very lucky to have him. Clive is a very special leader: his focus is entirely on people and culture.’

Metcalfe now plans to focus on food businesses, which he says are creative and innovative.

Shades of Wonka perfecting an eternal magic stopper emerge as he describes the change he made yesterday.

‘I was making noodles in our office all day, trying different weights with different levels of water and broth. Making sure it’s just right.’

Last month he flew to Asia to visit noodle factories in Thailand and Vietnam and broth kitchens in Japan. “It was the most amazing eight days I’ve ever had.”

This is not a fan of conspicuous consumption. He owns one watch. “It’s 15 years old and why would I want another one?”

He doesn’t like cars – ‘and I can’t drive mine anyway’ – his driver’s license was revoked in September for using a mobile phone while driving. He struggles to determine his Itsu salary, eventually saying it is £250,000, ‘but I don’t do it for the money’.

Instead, his pride comes from the fact that three of his seven children work for him: son Misha works in the grocery department.

Daughter Celeste, whom Metcalfe only learned about 15 years ago when she was a teenager through a bombshell phone call from an ex-girlfriend, is on the board of Itsu.

Artist’s son Billy, meanwhile, designed the packaging for Itsu’s Zen drinks. Will one of them take over? “Hopefully, but we’ll see if they want it.”

Metcalfe is more certain that Itsu will ‘definitely’ overtake Pret as his best-known legacy, especially internationally.

Pret has almost 700 stores worldwide. Itsu’s only international stores are in France and Belgium, with an opening in the Netherlands soon.

“Most countries don’t eat refrigerated brown bread sandwiches, but they all eat brown rice, noodles and broth,” he says. ‘Itsu has a much more international menu. It will be huge.’

Metcalfe still owns a 60 percent stake, alongside Bridgepoint. He clearly feels a responsibility to his 1,300 employees, whose composition has changed since the pandemic.

‘In 1990, when they opened the European borders, it was all Spanish, Italian and French staff, which was great because they had so much love for food and service.

“Since Covid it has gone back to English. Our store in Bath is made up of 100 percent British employees. Years ago there were fifty applicants per Pret job, but that makes you (the employer) spoiled and lazy. Now there are probably five.

‘You have to care for people more, teach them more, invest more in them. It’s a good thing. If you want good food, it should be made with pride and joy.’