Sinclair Beecham – Keynote Speaker

Sinclair Beecham graduated from the Polytechnic of Central London in 1983 after studying Urban Estate Management, where he met Julian Metcalfe. He then joined Crest Estates, a property developer as development and marketing executive.

He then teamed up with his partner Julian Metcalfe to form Pret A Manger.

In 2001 McDonald’s reached an agreement to acquire a minority interest in Pret A Manger. Founders Julian Metcalfe and Sinclair Beecham said, “Since opening the first Pret A Manger in 1986, we have been obsessed with selling good natural food to people who are in a rush at lunchtime. After 14 years, we are fortunate to have thousands of loyal customers in the U.K. and many visitors who have urged us to open Pret A Manger abroad. But to do this, we need a huge amount of support. Every new country will be an enormous challenge.”

In 2008 Sinclair Beecham, Julian Metcalfe and McDonald’s sold a further stake in Pret A Manger. The management team including Sinclair retain approximately 25% of the business. McDonald’s is no longer a shareholder. Sinclair remains on the Board of Pret A Manger.

Sinclair Beecham was a Non Executive Director of Virgin Active until 2005 when a majority stake was sold back to Virgin Group with 20 Health Clubs in the UK, 8 in Italy, 6 in Spain and 77 in South Africa. He was also a Non-Executive director of Molton Brown until it was sold to Kao in 2005. Sinclair has now moved into the hotel business. He is the Founder and Chairman of The Hoxton Hotel, a 208-bed hotel in Shoreditch, East London which opened in September 2006.

Pret A Manger is recognised as a leader in customer service and staff motivation, and Sinclair Beecham is a powerful speaker on the factors behind the success of all his business ventures.