The newest panera restaurant company to reveal a fresh look motivated by alterations in consumer habits brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
With a little more tech know-how, the new design aims to turn the soup and sandwich franchise into a little neighbourhood bakery. In an effort to foster consumer loyalty, it is incorporating familiar elements to make the dining experience more intimate than going to a faceless chain, while using technology to make the trip as frictionless and simple as possible.
Several restaurants, including Taco Bell, Burger King, and Shake Shack, have disclosed ambitious plans for new locations that will feature fewer seats, two drive-thrus, and more technology. While Panera’s design includes similar elements as well, it distinguishes itself from the competition by also offering dine-in service.
In an interview, chief brand and concept officer Eduard Luz stated, “Of course we are adapting to an off-premise environment, with ease and access and all that, but we are also doubling down on the dine-in experience, which makes Panera so great.”
Panera bread
Similar to Starbucks, panera bread promo code $4 off has long used inviting seating in its establishments to entice clients who might use the eatery as a meeting place. As states lift Covid prohibitions, Luz reported that customers are returning to existing Panera outlets. There is still a tonne of comfortable seating in the Next Gen design, both inside and outside.
Panera aspires to create an atmosphere for dine-in consumers that is reminiscent of their local bakeries. The chain’s bakers have been entering the cafes at night to prepare fresh bread for years. Customers can smell and see the bread and pastries baking thanks to the Next Gen design, which places the bakery ovens in the open and brings the bakers inside during the day. According to Luz, Panera refers to it as “bakery theatre” internally.
You will be able to taste and sample everything that comes out of the oven, he continued.
Users can receive free coffee for the rest of 2021 if they subscribe to MyPanera+ Coffee.
Subscription
Customers who join up for a MyPanera+ Coffee subscription will receive unlimited free coffee—hot or iced—for three months, according to the bakery-café business. Members will also enjoy unfettered access to hot tea, and customers dining in the café are entitled to unlimited refills. They can use their membership to redeem the incentive at a register in-store,automatically applied to their online account when they check out.
Subscribers can only apply online, and the deal does not apply to iced tea, cold brew iced coffee, espresso, or cappuccino drinks. In addition, some adjustments—like the addition of syrups—are not permitted. A member must be at least 18 years old in order to register.
The deal expired on New Year’s Eve. Customers will continue to enjoy unrestricted access to coffee along with other special benefits and privileges once the new year starts, and the subscription service will cost $8.99 per month, plus VAT.
AmEx cardholders will receive free access to MyPanera+ for six months thanks to a partnership that American Express and Panera announced on Wednesday, according to CNBC. That’s a lot of free coffee.
Free lunche
Panera gave its clients free lunches earlier this year. The establishment provided free bagels to customers who had obtained immunizations for a brief period in July. At the time, the company stated that it supported “the White House’s efforts to vaccinate Americans.”
“We have focused on uniting and serving the whole Panera family over the past year, including our patrons, staff, and communities. As we continue our efforts, we pleased to support the “We Can Do This” campaign today.” Niren Chaudhary, the CEO of Panera Bread, said this in a press release at the time.
The “We Can Do This” campaign started by the Biden administration to promote misinformation about vaccinations. Chaudhary said, “We overcame one of our nation’s greatest crises by supporting one another, and now, collectively, we can all do something simple to help our communities overcome this pandemic.”
Customers may now get unlimited self-serve drinks for a predetermined monthly price of $10.99 through the bakery-café company’s new subscription service.
Panera’s coffee
Unlike Panera’s coffee subscription plan, My Panera+Coffee, which offers unlimited coffee and tea beverages for less than $10 a month, the Unlimited Sip Club is applicable to 26 different self-serve beverages, including hot and iced tea, hot and iced coffee, Pepsi Cola fountain beverages, and more. Scroll down to get a list of all the permitted beverages.)
Members of the free MyPanera loyalty programme will get a free trial of the Unlimited Sip Club until July 4 if they sign up between April 19 and May 6. Customers will then have the option of continuing their membership or cancelling it for a fee per month.
Restaurant offered
When customers signed up for the subscription programme, the restaurant offered three months of free hot/iced coffee and hot tea as part of a similar promotion in November 2021 for the MyPanera+ Coffee plan. A promotion made about two afther years the service debut.
The new layout offers consumers a variety of convenient options to order and receive their food at the same time.
Digital innovation and personalisation are heavily present, according to Luz.
For instance, customers can order completely contactlessly if they utilise their phones. They have the option of placing their order at the counter, at the drive-thru, or from a computerised kiosk. Additionally, whether a customer enters the restaurant or uses the drive-thru, the business will instantly recognise them as a member of the reward programme. According to Luz, the business is taking into account a number of solutions, such as microfencing technology or scanning a barcode, to make this a reality.
Customers are lured into a thirst trap by Panera Bread
“Once you’re identified, the objective is that communicate with you, acknowledge you person, and treat you such,” he said. It’s what you would anticipate from a neighbourhood cafe.
Additionally, the restaurant will include a double drive-through, with one lane designated for picking up online orders. The present Panera restaurant footprint has a drive-through lane in around half of the locations, however double drive throughs are less common.
In November, the first restaurant sporting the new look expected to open in Ballwin, Missouri, which is beyond the chain’s hometown of St. Louis. The open bakery format is being tested at three current locations. Every Panera store that is built or renovated adhere to the design, and because of the drive-thru lanes, the majority of them in suburban regions.
We won’t say how many, but given how confident we are in the new design, we anticipate an aggressive increase, he added.
Panera’s private ownership
Due to Panera’s private ownership by Krispy Kreme’s owner JAB Holding, financial results not needed to disclosed. The New York Times, however, stated in late April that JAB is thinking about bringing Panera back to the public market.
In addition to offering customers unlimited hot or iced coffee or tea, Panera’s Unlimited Sip Club will also offer customers more than twenty other unlimited drink options, including lemonade, fountain soda, and the company’s new charged (caffeinated) lemonades, available in Fuji apple cranberry, mango citrus yuzu, and strawberry lemon mint, for $10.99 per month. This builds on the restaurant chain’s Coffee Club subscription, which launched last year and cost $8.99 per month.
