Panera Bread
Reviews and Complaints

Heavily armed man approaching customers with odd behavior friday 14 sep 2012 speaking oddly to customers of panera bread rt 611 stroudbsurg pa
We are both fond of panera and its bread, coffee, baked goods and basically purchase in there almost every day. My husband goes in there daily and has a coffee or lunch and brings som french bread home with him. The problem is there appears to be a huge lack of security or interest by management in our issue and quite honestly I dont blame them. With current affairs what is the purpose for a guy to wear armor leather holders strapped to the outside of his trousers with silencer and other attachments hitched below the weapon? In public? Sorry.. This guy approached my husband and started talking nonsense... Something about the the clouds looking like oil spills over interstate rt 80. This guy is nuts. The staff there are terrified and wont do anything about him. There is a military recruit office opposite so no doubt this nutter was drawn to the restaurant by its proximity to this office. The bottom line is management did nothing about it. It cannot be good for business to have such individuals obviously wearing arms to show off or intimidate people in the restaurant and we will never set foot in this place again as a result. We have a baby on the way as well and this is a worry which makes us both shiver.

This was a favorite of ours however over the past 2 years we have seen our visits drop from a few times per month -> once per month and now we probably stop once every other month. Really enjoy the store however the costs are way up and now product size is going down. They have these new cardboard salad boxes which look like 1/2 the size of the previous clear plastic containers, definitely apparent they do not hold as much. Get a pick two soup to go and the end of the spoon barely fits in the opening, probably 3oz's of soup, crazy. Went yesterday 8/13, two regular pick two combos to go (no drinks) and the total was $23.71, WTF. Their stock is doing well so they probably don't care, will keep taking the costs up and sizes down until other folks realize how little they are getting for their hard earned dollars (assuming they are hard earned dollars).

I went to Panera Bread on Germantown Parkway in Cordova, TN and ordered 2 bagels - 1 with cream cheese, 1 with butter and 2 cups of coffee. I asked for some jelly and much to my surprise, was advised there would be an extra charge of 50 cents! When I asked about the charge, I was advised by Mary, who had a very cavalier attitude about my inquiry, that the only condiment that is given with bagels is butter. Jelly is categorized as a side item, like peanut butter or cream cheese. I am 55 years old and have never been charged for jam or jelly after purchasing toast or other breads for a restaurant in my entire life!

Try going to IHOP for pancakes and paying extra for syrup or buying a pair of shoes and paying extra for laces. A condiment should be included in the cost of a product purchased. What value are you trying to add by NOT giving jelly, especially when a customer asks for it?

I know you are a "for profit" company and I agree with that concept, but paying extra for jam or jelly for a bagel is downright chintzty to say the least. What's next...paying for catsup and other like condiments?

I am sure you don't care; I like Panera Bread but I will never go there for a bagel in the morning.

This Bread is filled with sarcastic, rude, disrespectful and unprofessional people. There are several that I must say are very good people. Yet, there is a few I'd like to point out. Sherry (gm), she is absolutely rude. She told me the day of being hired that I would be trained for cashier; I was working a few weeks ago and she told me she wanted to talk to me before I left. Well, I went and talked with her before my shift and she turned around and told me that putting me on cashier training was a mistake. Another incident I have had with her was when she told me about the cleaning board. I did not really know much about it, but she pointed out that I hadn't been doing my cleaning duty (since I had very little knowledge about it). Her pointing it out was fine, but she then turns around and says "didn't someone talk to you about it last week?" in a very sarcastic tone. She then makes me go talk with Ruben. He starts saying that he talked to me last week. And I told him that he didn't. Nor did any other manager. After I said that, he pretty much said I was lying by stating "or maybe you forgot."

Panera Bread is full of sarcastic, rude, disrespectful and unprofessional people. They smile in your face and then talk about you behind your back to other managers. If they were professional they would pull you up on your your issue when it happens, instead of telling another manager that they don't like a few of the associates at the store. Nothing about that company is genuine or sincere. I was bullied at Panera so badly as an employee that I wanted to quit. One of the managers was very rude, disrespectful and did not know how to speak to any of the associates that worked there. She spoke very aggressively to people, put her hand in your face as she spoke to you, and had a strong hate for many of the associates at the store. I was told that I couldn't wear my hair hanging on my shoulders, I couldn't wear earrings larger than a certain size and I couldn't wear multiple name tags. Yet, all of the other associates were allowed to do all of the things I was told that I couldn't do. I then got demoted from a trainer/associate to just an associate. I knew that, at this point, they wanted me to quit but, I wasn't going to give them that satisfaction. Whenever I told the general manager, that was her boss, any of the problems I was having with her he would laugh at me and brush the situation off. Then once the district manager was contacted he didn't try and solve anything either. Instead, he sided with the manager that bullied me and started to ignore me whenever he would come into the store, which is very unprofessional. Before her and I were having issues he always spoke to me. I was later on fired from the store as soon as that particular manager got promoted to the general manager position. It was said that I had been written up multiple times. I had been working for the company for many years and never had a write-up until the "bully" got there. Even then do I recall being brought up for one issue not multiple issues. DON'T EVER WORK FOR PANERA BREAD or EAT FROM PANERA BREAD! They are a selfish company and only care themselves. They don't care at all about the people that work for them.

Stopped by @ Panera Bread in North Brunswick, New Jersey for a quick coffee break. While trying to figure out what to order, my 10 yr old noticed that there were 3 big flies hovering around the pastry selections, one of the big flies settled nicely in one if the cinnamon bread. I called the attention of the staff that was getting our order. I was surprised at her response, " What can I do about it?!" she said with a very obvious annoyance in her voice. Instead of doing something or anything about it, she proceeded on taking our orders. I have to stop her & literally point on the fly that is still in the bread to throw it away. She picked up & threw away the bread, not caring to show her annoyance. Obviously, no apology was given or no action to prevent the other flies from hovering around the pastry selections. After I got our orders, I still can't believed that this staff was obviously not concern about the food being served to costumer. I approached her once again & asked her, her name, she stood up from where she's seated & proudly said her name, "Laja". I asked her who & where is the manager, without a trace of hesitation she pointed me to where the manager was. I spoke with the manager, & again to my surprise, no service recovery attempted, instead, he said that Laja, his staff, did approach him when she saw flies & did something about it. I have to tell him, the story again & reminded him that he wasn't around when everything was happening, so how could his staff, Laja, approached him! It's very a disappointing & a very frustrating experience. The store manager & his own staff, Laja obviously didn't care if their were flies hovering around their food merchandise & that the next costumer/s can get/buy it. I can't imagine how they handle and prepare food in their back kitchen. I wonder what the "#1 Zagat" rated posted in their door means...

This is the 3rd time I have ordered to go soup from this particular location. I always order the "soup for two"(french onion). I ask specifically for my 4 sides and extra parmesan cheese on the side. This last time the parmesan cheese was placed IN the soup, by the time I got it home, it was melted all the way at the bottom and was not servable. The croutons have gone forgotten and the sides have been replaced with various others without notification. It is not consistent and frankly not worth the 13.99 you charge! I am very dissatisfied and disappointed, Panera has always been one of my very favorite places to eat. The prices are too high, the employees scattered brained and inconsistent. I will not spend money in this restaurant for a long time.

Very disappointed
Monica Rotuno

I have several managers that constantly degrade me, especially on front of customers. One of the managers will make fun of the way that i do everything. For example when i was giving a customer advice where to buy alcohol, since we didnt sell any, after she left, my manager told me that i gave adive the wrong way and i didnt know how to read people, and then he went behind my back and told all of my coworkers and laughing about me. One of my managers also makes jokes about how i dont ever do anything at my job, and how i just stand there and talk to people. I am far from opposite of that and i stay late to do all of my closing work and i am always nice to customers. I feel like i have no recognition of anything i do and i feel like a lot of time they blame me for other peoples mistakes. I dont know what to do in my situation and i want to know more about my rights as an employee at panera bread

I have worked for Panera Bread for about a year, and I have had a very horrible experience. First of all, the employees are treated like crap. The managers do what they want, when they want and break any rules they set down for their employees (i.e. eating in the back of the restaurant, smoking while taking out the trash, talking on cell phones, listening to MP3 players while working, etc). I tried to call the corporate store and make an anonymous complaint, but nothing happened, so i submitted another one a month later with my name, and again, no repercussions to them, but I was forced to take a week off while corporate "investigated". Then, when i returned, I was made to scrub floor stains with a Brillo pad and toothbrush for my next 3 shifts. But I was not too upset with this because I have grown used to doing all kinds of ### JOBs while working there. I used to work as a server for a nice sports bar, but I realized that I would have different responsibilities while working at Paneras (i thought it would include making food or doing dishes or something of that nature) . But when I was hired as a CASHier, I had no thought I would spend most of my time scrubbing out the insides of ovens, cleaning out clogged or dirty toilets and bathrooms, scraping off gum (and other substances) stains on the floor and inside refrigerators, and even scrubbing out smelly garbage bins. If I would have known that I was going to be doing janitorial work, then I would have applied as a janitor. These intense cleanings usually all happened near the end of the month when the inspections were, and the rest of the month the store was FILTHY. Also, the sanitary conditions are HORRIBLE, food is dropped and served (they joke Paneras goes by the 10 second rule), food is additionally kept way past expiration dates and most things that cannot be used one day are kept and reheated and served indefinitely. But that was all accepted evil.

What finally made me leave their employment was the fact that they NEVER kept to their employee's schedules. They changed people's schedules randomly and many times forgot to tell the person whose shift they changed. They would let their favored employees show up late or leave early without any punishment, while I got written up the first time I was late (I was 15 min late because I got pulled over on my way there, and I even called them and told them I'd be a few minutes late). They rarely let people go on break and if you were lucky enough to get one, they would chew you out if you clocked back in after 31 minutes instead of the 30 min break they allow. Also, like other restaurants, the managers have to count out the CASHiers at the end of each person's shift before they can leave, but it was nearly impossible to get them to do it. The managers would try to dismiss you between each other, and if you could finally manage to get someone to do it, they would constantly be late. I know that this thing happens, but when it becomes an every day thing, it is hard for employees to have a life. For example, I had to work until 3, and I needed to leave on time to pick up my cousin from his soccer practice so I let my managers know when I came in that I needed to leave on time, but the managers all were "too busy" to count out my drawer when the time came, and when I told them I NEEDED to leave asap, they told me "its your cousin or your JOB". I can know that things get busy (and my store was very busy), but I finished up leaving work at 5 (2 hours after I was supposed to leave). This kind of thing happened so often that I got used to plotting on leaving an hour late. Also, when it was time to close and clean up at night, managers told employees to clock out when the store closed and then they had to clean up (usually for about an hour) after they had clocked out. Most of the other employees are college kids and don't know that the managers are doing a lot of illegal things. Other employees and myself have submitted complaints to corporate and again, nothing.

All this crap was considered normal practice at Paneras, and if you refused anything the managers said, you were threatened with termination. After about a year of slave work and numerous complaints without any resolve, I quit. I have submit many more complaints and I hope that the company gets their stuff together before they get in serious distress. I hope this will reach people that are thinking of applying there so they can realize the horrible work and terrible employee treatment that Paneras lets happen in their restaurants.

My son and I were meeting my daughter at Panera Bread in Chapel Hill. She called at 11:36 a.m. to tell us she had already arrived. I said we would be there in about 5 minutes. She said, ok, I'll get some coffee. She parked the car at Panera's in a 90 minute parking space. When we arrived at 11:41 a.m., there was a tow hook on the car. I yelled at the guy to stop and ran into the store, the manager was incredibly rude and said they would have given her 10 minutes after they saw her leave the property. She then proceeded to mock me. The tow truck driver was threatening and said he would accept $50 cash, that he would give me 20 minutes and if I wasn't back he would take the car. When I got back, I gave him $60 and he said he didn't have change and was obligated under the law to give me change, that he would take my car and my money. When my daughter went in to Panera to get change, the manager gave her dirty looks and made her feel awful. We have tried to work with the manager and she has been very rude. I feel physically threatened and found out through phone calls to the city that this tow truck company and this driver in particular are guilty of predatory towing. Shame on Panera for failing to look out after their customers. I have several food allergies and Panera happens to be a restuarnant I can eat at, so this is disturbing on several levels to me.

Panera claims to provide both their customers and employees with a comfortable and enjoyable environment, but I have seen nothing but the utmost amounts of disrespect and complete lack of professionalism in this particular Panera. The General Manager treats the employees as if they are slaves. Not in the sense of hard labor, but through her harsh words and threats towards them. I as a customer, have heard her SCREAM at many of the young adults in the cafe, for ridiculous reasons, and often blame them for her misfortunes. This type of disrespect in the work place terrifies me of what I should look out for when my children are of age. PLEASE DO NOT LET YOUR CHILD EVEN CONSIDER FILLING OUT AN APPLICATION AS LONG AS MANY OF THESE MANAGERS ARE IN SERVICE AT THIS BAKERY CAFE. I have witnessed multiple unjust and extremely unprofessional attitudes among them.

I see a lot of complaints about the food and service at Panera's (known in the St. Louis area as St. Louis Bread Co.)

I guess we're lucky here. I've been to 3 franchises at Westport Plaza, in Florissant, MO, on Lindbergh Blvd and at Northwest Plaza have had a pleasant experience every time. Good food, good service, and a great attitude even when the huge lunch crowds come in.

I first discovered your bakery/cafe a few years ago when I lived in north haven, ct. I found the unique variety and high-quality very appealing. Since that first day I tried panera, I have been frequenting one of your stores several times a month. I am a single professional living alone. I hate to cook! So I eat out often.

I normally stop at north haven, ct, on my way home from work, or shelton, ct on my lunchbreak. Tonight I happened to be in hamden, ct so I stopped at your store there.

Let me also state that I am not only a working professional, but I also run a customer-service oriented business, which I have had for over ten years. I know how to take care of customers when they are upset.

With all that being said, here is what happened. I am fully accepting "blame" for leaving my wallet at home, along with my atm card, charge cards, you name it! Luckily a friend gave me $10, knowing that I have no food in my apartment and I need to eat something for dinner. I try to stay away from "fast food" so I thought panera would be a great choice, as it always is.

I ordered my sandwich (Turkey artichoke panini) and saw that I could get a bakery item for 99 cents additional. At that point the cashier (Stacey) stated that I need to order chips and a drink to get that special price on the cookie I wanted. Fine. I ordered a medium iced tea and got that small bag of chips. I decided that I wanted a holiday cookie for dessert.

Stacey rang up my order... And here is when it all turned ugly. My total for the sandwich, the drink and chips (That I didn't really even want but was forced to buy if I wanted the cookie for 99 cents) came to $10.31. I searched my pockets... No change. At this point I offer to go all the way back outside to my car to look for change, and I did so. I overhear stacey say "he has to go outside"..in a tone that seems like she is annoyed...

I was only able to find a couple of pennies in my car. Now I realize that I am short (29cents)... And I say as nicely as I could, that I am sorry that I am short the change. Stacey says "no problem". What does she do? She goes to get the manager. The manager puts in his key and the cookie is taken off my reciept. Taken off my receipt, taken out of my bag, and put back inside their case! Thats right, I was denied my cookie by the manager, and paid for my drink and chips that I didn't even want. Those were my "options".

Upon furthur thinking, I decided this just isn't right. I know I am short a few cents, but it is just not good customer service. I am very unhappy. So I go back and find the manager again. His name is don. I tell don how unhappy I am. I said that I didn't think it was right to take the cookie back since I was only short pocket change. He just listens to me, not saying anthing, which starts to make me even more upset. When I am done (And I am getting more and more animated at this point) he states, and I quote "we have certain standards".

I mean whaatttt did you just say? So now I am not up to your stores standards because I am short some cents? At that point I was so shocked that a) nothing was done to make me happy and b) the fact that the night manager said I wasn't up to the standards... That I jus becamore more and more upset. I said how I feel that is not good customer service, and that (Maybe I shouldn't have said what I said) I would tell everyone I know and deal with not to come to panera. I said it and I meant it and still mean it.

I would not waste my limited amount of free time to writing all of this over a cookie if it was just about a cookie. It is about how I was treated. Instead of making me happy by giving me a cookie (When I had to spend $ on stuff I didn't want to get the cookie) I was watched by everyone as I walked out to my car, and then denied it. Then I was told what I was told from the manager? That just isn't right.

On my way out the door the second time, I go back to stacey and confirm that don is indeed the manager. I had to double check because I found it hard to believe that someone that would make that kind of decision would be in management. Anyways, to add insult to injury, stacey says under her breath "well you didn't have the money" when I was clearly upset at the lack of customer service provided by the manager. That just made me even more angry.

I hope that this email is taken seriously and that I am treated with the respect that I deserve. I wasn't treated right. There are many, many different meal choices on every block in every city and every town. I am perfectly fine and 100% willing to give up my panera that I love so much, if I am blown off by you (Whoever is reading and handling this) like I was by your staff in hamden ct.

I hope that I am seen as more than a customer who was short 29 cents. It is about more than that. Do you really want me to steam about this every time I think about panera? Do you really want me to tell the story of what happened to me every time im with a friend and we drive by a panera? Do you really want me to tell my customers the story when I am chit-chatting with them making small talk in between selling them products?

I was in the Panera Bread in California, MD around 8-8:30 one night and witnessed a manager whom seemed as though she was in the process of leaving when she pulled a young girl aside and proceeded to yell at her in front of customer such as myself, and her fellow employees as well. From what I could heard it sounded as though she was being scolded for looking tired. I'm not sure about everyone else, but personally, I've had those days and would expect everyone to have had them! Yet she acted as though the girl was scaring away customers by appearing to need sleep. I'll let everyone know now that it was not to girl that is keeping me away, it is the woman whom I saw yelling at her employee. Embarrassing her in front of her peers as well as paying customers. Cut your employees some slack!

I kept complaining to Paneralistens.com and even left a message at their corporate headquarters. They make their order taker double check the order and still don't give me everything in the order.

I order soup and sandwich. When I order extra cheese and extra croutons, they charge me over 70 cents extra and don't give me extra cheese and extra croutons. They don't even give me croutons anymore. There have been several times when they were even making the sandwiches without all the ingredients and selling it to me.

I was employed by Panera Bread in Boardman and upon employment I was told of the dress code policy and diligently followed it so that I could get the job. Due to their no visible tattoo policy I was told I was allowed to cover the small tattoo on my wrist with a watch. Due to their no piercing policy I removed my nose stud. Their dress code states that you can only have two earrings per ear. I have stretched ears so I put flesh colored plugs in them and took the other two in each ear completely out. I was told, by the director, on the day I went in to watch videos about safety that I was okay as long as I definitely took out my nose piercing. She went into some speech about how I have a great personality but that the owner of the franchise wanted everyone to have the "girl next door" look, which I felt was an inappropriate remark. Who out there can define what the "girl next door" looks like? I would have felt much more comfortable just being told "hey, your piercing might fall in someone's soup, please remove it." I went in to train for my first day and the staff was great and very helpful, I loved the fast paced work and was picking everything up rather quickly in the sandwich line. After my shift was over, I went home with my spiffy new hat and a name tag. I was called the next morning and told that the director didn't feel that I fit the "Panera look" because of my ears. I am still very upset about this matter. I did everything I could to make sure I fit the said "look" and was still let go. NOWHERE in the policy does it say that gauged ears are not allowed. It only states that you can have two in each ear. Both of the director's own sisters work in management and the one has 6 holes in each ear and other employees cover tattoos with bandaids and watches. I also took notice that apparently people of other races do not qualify as "the girl next door" since not once have I seen, upon being employed or as a customer, any person of color working there. I sincerely hope that one day businesses will stop letting go or denying others a job because of appearance, because it's truly sad to see that discrimination still happens in 2011.

I frequent panera bread both in glastonbury, ct and bristol, ct and usually have decent food and friendly service. today, while ordering the 'pick 2", the"sales person"(shannon) started arguing with me about what I ordered. I assured her I knew what I had ordered since I was reading from the menu. she became"agitated"and after a short debate she decided to submit my order as I ordered it. she was visibly angry and grabbed my money and then threw the change down on the counter. I complained to the resident gm who said she would file a complaint. she also said she corroborated my story with another sales person since this type of backup is required when dealing with human resources. i'm not sure about panera bread's hr department, but in many companies these staff functions aren't very proactive in dealing with complaints. the person (s) who should deal with these types of poor customer service issues should be the ones that are impacted by lost revenues. btw, prior to shannon"waiting" on me, she spent an inordinate amount of time taking an order from a family with a young kid who couldn't decide what she wanted to drink. her parents were similarly indecisive and while they debated this decision, the lunch line grew longer and longer. finally the kid decides on hot chocolate... great, lets move on. incredibly, shannon prolonged the agony by asking the kid if she wanted it in a mug or cup... more indecision, more waiting! and the line gets longer and longer and the customers get angrier and angrier...