So there's this cafe chain,
Panera Bread. My sister-in-law and I once agreed: they're sort of the counter-
Starbucks. Starbucks has a wide range of coffee drinks, for which they're famed; and they also have some pastries and sandwiches, but hardly anyone actually goes there just for those. They go for the coffee. Panera has a wide range of pastries, breads, bagels, soups, and sandwiches, for which they're famed; and they also have some flavored coffee drinks, but hardly anyone actually goes there just for those. They go for the food. (Exhibit A in our theory is the shopping center near her house, where a Starbucks and a Panera Breads can both be found, and are literally a short walk across the parking lot from each other. Both are thriving. And that's not the only place I've seen them share a parking lot.)
I love Panera's food. I don't like their somewhat upscale pricing; but I don't dislike it enough not to go there. (And that was even before they put in free WiFi. In fact, I shouldn't say "there", I should say "here". I'm composing this post at Panera.)
But I worry about the mental state of whoever designed their stores.
The image below is more or less the standard layout for Panera Breads stores. Oh, I've seen minor variations; but this is pretty standard:
And here's a key:
Bakery Reg/Pickup. See, Panera tries to keep two separate customer streams for two separate kinds of customers: bakery and cafe. Bakery Customers are largely a takeout business: they ask for some bread or pastry, they take it, and they leave. They don't want to wait around. So the Bakery Reg/Pickup is the register where bakery orders are placed, and where coffee is ordered separately and picked up (whether ordered separately or as part of a meal).
BC: Bakery Customer. Someone who orders just pastries, breads, bagels, or coffee.
Cafe Reg. This is the register for placing food orders. But because food takes time and Panera wants to keep the stream moving, you don't pick it up here.
CC: Cafe Customer. Someone ordering sandwiches, salads, or soups.
Cafe Pick Up. Where the Cafe Customer picks up food. Note that this is
always down the counter from the Cafe Register, with a wall defining a narrow corridor between register and pick up. (Customer seating is on the other side of that wall.)
BW: Bakery Worker. Someone who takes and fills bakery orders, including all coffee orders from either register.
CW: Cafe Worker. You get the idea.
Chef: Someone who prepares cafe orders.
Baker. Or this might also be Supervisor. Someone who, for whatever reason, needs to come out of the bakery in the back.
Now here's where the problem comes in. (Use the red numbers on the drawing to follow along if you like.) What happens when a Cafe Customer (
1) decides to order both food (like today's special,
Chicken Olivada — I've had better chicken sandwiches here, but it's pretty good)
and a coffee drink (or in this case,
Chai Tea Latte, a great warm-up on a chilly day). Where do I go for step
2? And then step
3? Do I head toward Cafe Pick Up? Or do I head for Bakery Pick Up? Depending on the time of day and current customer demands, either one might get done first. There's no sure predictor. Usually I head for the Bakery Pick Up, but sometimes the food is done first. Either way I choose, though, I and my bulky computer backpack have to weave among both streams of customers and down the long, narrow hallway at least twice. And if I guess wrong and my order comes up at one pick up while I'm at the other, then I have to quickly work my way to the other pick up and back, likely ending in three cross-stream trips. So in other words, a design to reduce congestion at the registers results in an awful lot of cross-stream traffic. I'll bet they could improve traffic flow a lot if they swapped the Cafe Register and the Cafe Pick Up.
But often it's worse than that. Take a look at step
4. See, some of their coffee drinks (such as the wonderful I.C. Caramel, a great cool drink for the summer) require some shots of various syrups. And the first time I ordered one of those, I was shocked to see where they kept the syrups:
behind the Cafe Register, and therefore across the traffic route from the Bakery out into the counter area. Worse than that, the only place to stand and dispense syrup was
right in the Bakery entrance. This layout was almost guaranteed to lead to collisions between Bakery Workers and Bakers or Supervisors. This one they seem to have figured out, at least: almost every Panera I have visited lately has moved the syrups to a crowded area near the Bakery Register. It's cramped, but at least it doesn't lead to collisions.
And as long as I'm picking on Panera... With most of their food items, they offer a pickle and chips; but for $1.39 more, they'll substitute a small fresh fruit cup for the chips. Well, their chips are nothing special (Krunchers, usually), and their fruit cups are good. So that's how I usually order. But I swear,
it's like not a single Panera cashier or chef has ever read their menu and knows about this option. Most times the cashier doesn't know where to find the cash register button for that. Some times they think I'm ordering a fruit cup separately, and charge me the full $1.99 for it. Most times they also don't know that, unlike all the rest of the food in the building, the fruit cup is the one item that
they are supposed to deliver to me, rather than the Chef or the Bakery Worker. (Or some stores will have the fruit cups out front, and I'm supposed to serve myself.) Very often, the chef will add chips to my plate out of habit, so I have to explain that, while I appreciate their unintended generosity, I'm really not supposed to get the chips. And in almost every case (including today), they fail to provide me with a fork for the fruit. They need to educate their staff on this small matter.
Thank you, Panera, for letting me use your free WiFi to point out some of your failings. It puts me in the mood for another Chai Tea Latte (yummm...).
And speaking of WiFi and Chai Tea Latte... If I could use the WiFi to go to your site and place an order for new drinks and food to be delivered to my table while I keep working, you might never get me out of your store!
