£1.5billion multinational fast food outlet takes on two-man Bermondsey bakery – over their name

A two-man bakery faces a David-and-Goliath battle to survive against the multinational might of a global fast food outlet.

Bermondsey’s Bread A Manger have received a letter giving them just nine days to stop using their name and logo and promotional material – and hand over their website.

They were also ordered to stop using their name – by £1.5billion Pret A Manger. The company has now said they can have longer to make the changes they deem are necessary. Pret say they merely wanted a response by March 3.

The letter on February 22 was sent by top  international patent and trade mark law firm Dehns, which has seven offices in the UK and one in Norway.

It came as a shock to cofounder Fouad Saber, who set up the company in Market Place two years ago with another chef, Bertrand  Kerleo, soon after the start of lockdown, when their previous companies were decimated by lockdown.

He said: “At the beginning, I thought it was a scam or a wind-up.

“But then I checked the name of the law company and realised it was serious.

“It has been very stressful. We don’t really know what to do. We are a small business trying to survive. We opened at the start of lockdown because we loved what we do.

“But one of our customers, a judge, gave us the name of a lawyer who could helps us – but being given a week to change our name is not enough.

“We are a French artisan baker and they are a fast food outlet. We do birthday cakes. There can be no confusion.

“It would cost us £8,000 to change our name and our logo and marketing material – we don’t have that kind of money.

“But our supporters have been very helpful. They have led the way in trying to save us.

“We are just trying to stay positive because we did not do anything wrong.

“We will do all we can. I come from Lyon, which was the centre of the French Resistence, so we will fight on.”

Pret has confirmed the timeframe it asked for, for making initial changes was March 10, while it has not asked for other changes, including registering a new name with Companies House, until later in March.

It has also offered to support in other ways so the firm can make the changes. “We have a duty of care to ensure the brand is not diluted,” it said in a statement.

Jo Holinska, Head of Operations, London City, Pret A Manger, said: “Thousands of Pret Team Members across London have worked hard to earn the trust of customers in the city over the past four decades, and although we appreciate it when other businesses take inspiration from what we do, this name is just too close, especially when many of the products are similar too. 

“We’re more than happy to give the business the time it needs to make these changes and to provide any support we can, and we’ll be getting in touch again to see if we can resolve this in a fair and amicable way.” 

Bread A Manger came about with the merger of two companies: Manger Moi created in 2017 by Fred Saber, a French chef who is also a former shop, restaurant and customer services manager.​ It specialised in pastries, muffins, and French crepes, in Stratford. The other firm, Dynamic Baking Classes, created in 2019, was a specialist baker of French and English traditional food, created in 2019 by Bertrand Kerleo, after 25 years as a head baker, and working in a Michelin star restaurant, hotels and bakers. He has worked with top chefs Tom Atkins and Eric Chavot.