Pret A Manger has been named top café for customer satisfaction in the Nationwide High Street Happiness Survey.

Published by the Activate Solutions Group, the survey looks into the levels of customer satisfaction being provided by the UK’s top high street brands.

It saw Pret claiming first place for cafés, and fourth overall, followed by Caffè Nero which took second, and was placed sixth overall. West Cornwall Pasty Company was placed seventh, Greggs ninth, Costa Coffee in 33rd place and Starbucks 40th.

Mark Palmer, marketing director at Pret A Manger, said: "Customer service has always been paramount for Pret, and we’re very happy to have performed well in this survey.

"Our recipe for success consists of excellent staff, providing good quality food made fresh in our shops each day, and we’re delighted that our customers continue to enjoy the Pret experience."

Using 60 XCell field agents, the survey reached 10 high streets across the country over a two-week period, incorporating brands from 14 different sectors. A net promoter scoring system was used to measure factors relating to the sites themselves, the level of service being provided and the emotional response customers had to the experience overall.

By using the recommendation ranking, which incorporates all other elements of the survey, Activate identified the top 50 high street brands, 16 of which were national food and drink chains.

Mike Cottman, CEO of The Activate Solutions Group, said: “Our survey was designed to show where the weaknesses and strengths lie on the Great British high street.

“While there is always room for improvement, overall the food and drinks sector did well. Restaurants came top; with cafés fourth, and bars and pubs in fifth place. Fast food outlets overall have a lot more work to do, having achieved 11th place out of the 14 sectors we looked at.”

The top 50 brands identified by the research fall into the following categories (listed in ranked order according to the results):

  1. Restaurants
  2. Jewellers
  3. Newsagents & stationers
  4. Cafés
  5. Bars/Pubs
  6. Mobile
  7. Banks
  8. Charity shops
  9. Beauty
  10. Petrol
  11. Fast food outlets
  12. Discounters
  13. Convenience
  14. Clothes

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