Pret A Manger, a UK-based sandwich shop chain, has pledged to pay a starting hourly rate to interns who are doing work experience following criticism that it had planned to pay them ‘in sandwiches’, reports The Guardian. Pret A Manger had launched a program for 500 teens aged 16-18 to work in the summer to help  with reported looming staffing shortages and said it would pay the teens with free food. “Pret's work experience week is not about making sandwiches for free,” Pret A Manger CEO Clive Schee said. "We set it up so that 16-18-year-olds can shadow our teams and get a flavour of what working at Pret is like. We've seen how passionately people feel about the initiative, and in response I would like to confirm that we will pay all participants."