Customers at Saint Louis Bread Co. can now skip the counter. The St. Louis-based restaurant chain, also known as Panera Bread, recently rolled out digital-ordering options, including “Order From My Table,” “Rapid Pick-Up,” and “Delivery.” The company has also installed kiosks at some area locations.
“We are making Panera that much more convenient and accessible through these new channels of access, so we can integrate into the way that people want to purchase food,” says Dan Wegiel, a senior vice president at Panera. “The ultimate vision is for customers to be able to get Panera whenever, however, or wherever they want.” Overall, digital ordering now accounts for about a quarter of Panera’s sales.
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“You are starting your café experience the way you want, whether it’s alone, to meet with someone, or to work,” says Wegiel. “You have eliminated an element of the experience that is not the real reason someone came in.”
There are currently 10 metro area Panera locations where customers can order remotely from their tables. Customers can also place delivery orders by entering their address to see whether the company delivers to that area. Delivery accounts for a 10 percent increase in sales over the past six months, says Wegiel, adding that the company is hiring thousands of drivers.
Still, at a time when chains like McDonald’s and Wendy’s have introduced automation, some industry experts remain skeptical that the changes won’t result in fewer or lower-paying jobs. “Lots of restaurants, not just fast-food chains, are really trying to mitigate the costs of higher wages,” Lauren Hallow of Technomic, a restaurant market research firm, told the Los Angeles Times.
Wegiel, however, says that’s not the case at Panera. “Labor savings are not a focus for us—our focus is on the customer experience,” he says, adding that some employees who previously took orders will work in production.
The company is also emphasizing customer interaction. “We don’t want to lose sight of that as we create digital channels,” says Wegiel. “In fact, we are very keen on making sure that whatever human touch points we have, we are stressing that warmth even more.”
(Panera was back in the news yesterday after Bloomberg reported that the chain “is exploring strategic options including a possible sale after receiving takeover interest.” On Wednesday, Panera announced the sale to JAB Holding Co. for $7.5 billion, the company that owns Krispy Kreme, Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Stumptown Coffee Roasters, Keurig Green Mountain, and Caribou Coffee. The Chicago Tribune reports the sale as “the second largest restaurant deal ever made in North America,” behind Burger King’s $11.53 billion purchase of Canadian chain Tim Hortons.)
Pi Pizzeria co-founder Chris Sommers offers digital ordering at his new fast-casual concept, ‘ZZA Pizza + Salad, and is also considering installing kiosks. Located near Washington University’s campus, the restaurant allows “students and faculty to walk out of a class, order and pay with their thumb, and pick up,” Sommers says, “and if they so desire, have very little human interaction—but most importantly, little, if any, wait.
“I think it’s going to have a negligible effect on employment,” he adds. “What it’s really doing is meeting the customer where the customer is.”
