This Major Sandwich Chain Has “Gone Downhill” in Every Way
Fans of chain restaurants are often disappointed as a restaurant evolves from being a smaller, more mom-and-pops type of establishment to a large national chain. After all, as restaurants rapidly expand, they often try to cut costs, mass produce food, and focus more on efficiency rather than overall quality. I recall the late 1990s, when the first Panera opened near my college in Winter Park, Florida, offering freshly baked sourdough bread bowls filled with homemade soup, unparalleled customer service, and generous portions. Things have changed in the last 25 years, and according to many Redditors, including Panera employees, the sandwich chain has declined in every way.
They Got “Rid of Bakers” and Replaced Them with “Frozen Product”
In a Reddit post titled “Chronicling Panera’s Fall Off,” one person lists some of the key factors responsible for the decline, with others weighing in. “Getting rid of bakers and replacing them with frozen product,” is one of the main gripes.
They Moved “The Bake From Overnight to the Afternoon Prior”
Another person mentions “Moving the bake from overnight to the afternoon prior,” also resulted in a decline in product. “Your ‘freshly baked’ pastry has been sitting out on racks for at least 16 hours by the time you eat it. Enjoy,” one person said. “Losing the overnight bake changed everything at my store,” anothe agreed. “We had an incredible baker team that really cared about their work who we lost because they couldn’t work daytime hours, and their replacements just didn’t care about their product—forget the fact that working on top of each other was a total mess.”
They Changed the Lettuce Blend
Another complaint of the OP? “The new ugly romaine / iceberg mix which tanks salads to save money,” they wrote. “Along with romaine, the greens blend used to be a kale/radicchio blend and now it’s … leaf lettuce? I think?” another agreed.
They Got Rid of Popular Bagel Flavors
Several people commented about the bagel situation. “Dropping a third of their bagels ( goodbye sesame, blueberry, chocolate chip)” is another thing the OP pointed out. “Getting rid of big selling products, like who gets rid of the blueberry bagel but keeps the multigrain? A travesty,” another agrees.
They Started Outsourcing Deliveries
Others miss the days when Panera was responsible for its own deliveries. “It was always good when Panera staff themselves used to deliver, but that was the good old days,” one person commented. “The delivery service adds a fee. Panera contracts the delivery so we don’t get any of that extra money or even the tips from the order. Door dash constantly screws up orders so we’re always losing money and business from their incompetence. It’s wild that people don’t understand this,” one employee explains.
A “Constantly Changing Menu”
“They’re a chain restaurant with no brand identity anymore because they add and remove items SO OFTEN lately (other than soups for the most part) nothing is the same if you return every couple months. What are customers going to be loyal to? A constantly changing menu?” one griped. “This is actually why I stopped going to Panera. After both my first and second choice were removed from the menu I just started going to places that at least consistently had the food I was looking for,” another agreed.
