Maxoptra Routing Software Helps Pret Deliver 1,000 More Free Meals Every Day
London, 07 March 2019 – Pret a Manger is using an advanced routing and mobile app solution to boost deliveries of free meals to vulnerable and homeless people across London. Using the software from Maxoptra to schedule and manage deliveries in real-time, the fresh food retailer has been able to deliver an additional 1,000 meals every day.
Pret run charity the Pret Foundation collects surplus and unsold food, which would otherwise go to waste, and delivers it to charities and community groups across the UK. In London, the Pret Foundation operates its own fleet of vehicles collecting from around 200 stores, 365 days- a-year, delivering to more than 20 frontline organisations.
Before implementing Maxoptra, daily collection, delivery schedules and routes were created using a combination of local knowledge, prior experience and online mapping tools. However since using the advanced route planning algorithms within Maxoptra, the Pret Foundation has been able to support an increase in the number of stores it makes daily collections from and has added another 23 charitable organisations to its delivery schedule. These increases in capacity have been achieved using exactly the same mobile resource.
“Put simply Maxoptra allows us to do more,” commented Juanita Cracchiolo, UK Pret Foundation Manager. “We have the same number of vehicles, the same number of drivers, yet we are able to feed an additional 1,000 people each and every day.”
In addition to the increase in capacity achieved through more intelligent scheduling and smarter route planning Maxoptra is also helping Pret manage its mobile activities through the use of the Maxoptra Driver App. Changes to the planned activity can be directly communicated to drivers and records of collections completed and deliveries made are automatically logged in the back office system.
Maxoptra also gives fleet managers at Pret the ability to balance driver and vehicle use, control emissions and costs and, with integration with in-cab tracking and dash cams, improve health and safety monitoring.
The Pret Foundation’s aim is to alleviate poverty in the UK by helping to break the cycle of homelessness. Established by Pret founders Julian Metcalfe and Sinclair Beecham in 1995, the Foundation is funded by donations made by the sale of some products and contributions to collection boxes in shops.
In addition to the charity’s food programme the Pret Foundation’s Rising Stars programme offers homeless people real jobs and gives the support required, including food, travel and accommodation, to succeed and shine.
ABOUT MAXOPTRA
Maxoptra delivers cloud-based delivery management and route optimisation solutions that meet the needs of both small and large fleet operators.
Maxoptra has been proven to improve customer service, deliver daily savings and facilitate business growth for big names such as Sofology, JCB and Sharps. Maxoptra also prides itself on supplying innovative and cost effective solutions to today’s small distribution and service fleet operators running anything from less than five, to 100+ vehicles.
Through its advanced technology and flexible pricing model Maxoptra brings the delivery service benefits, commonly associated with B2C giants, to small and medium B2C and B2B operators. https://maxoptra.com/
ABOUT PRET
Pret A Manger opened in London in 1986. Pret’s sandwiches, salads and wraps are freshly prepared each day in shop kitchens using quality ingredients. The food doesn’t have a ‘sell-by’ date; Pret offers unsold food to charity at the end of the day. Pret has over 500 shops in 9 markets and serves more than 500,000 customers every day around the world. In May 2018, it was announced that JAB will acquire Pret from Bridgepoint and other minority shareholders. The transaction is expected to complete within the next couple of months.