When Julian Metcalfe helped launch the sandwich and coffee-chain Pret A Manger in 1986, interest rates were in the double digits and staffing was difficult, in part because full freedom of movement within the European Union was still a few years away. These days, the UK is out of the EU, the interest rate is 5%—though the Bank of England is expected to raise it.

“Everyone’s complaining about 5% and it’s the end of the world,” Metcalfe says. “Back then I remember we paid 14%.”

In this week’s In the City, Metcalfe tells hosts David Merritt and Francine Lacqua that the restaurant business is “incredibly difficult,” but that when you’re determined, you can make it happen. He says his current mission is to make Itsu, a fast-food chain he founded in 1997, a destination for speedy, healthy meals at low prices. 

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