Panera Bread — Restaurant in Bradenton

Visited approximately 8pm Friday 28 February 2020

Friendly and helpful cashier, friendly and helpful manager on duty (Christian).

Luke warm Hazelnut large coffee from the self-serve urn.

I took the last two Splenda packets from the self-serve milk/sugar spot.

The sugar packets looked old and had old coffee stains on them.

I could see from where I stood in the check out line an employee in the back food prep area eating a pizza slice.

Were it not for the monthly coffee subscription, I would have complained about paying $2.19 for luke warm coffee, inadequately stocked Splendas, dirty and old sugar packets, and employees putting their own desires above the health safety of their customers. But, relatively inexpensive coffee such as one gets with the monthly subscription makes me less vengeful in person.

That's what Google Reviews is for!

Update on Monday 2 March 2020

I love the $8.99 coffee subscription!

Visited at approximately 6:30pm. The coffee fixins were stocked and the area was clean.

No decaf coffee. No Hazelnut coffee.

The young man at the counter was very helpful when I asked if any was available and he offered right away to brew them but I could not wait around. Unfortunately I could not see a nametag so as to drop his name in this review, but my compliments on his customer service.

Update Tuesday 3 March 2020

Visited approximately 4:45pm.

Nice work to Kathryn at the register. She was immediately responsive, kind, and also interacted with the other customers in a friendly and professional manner.

No dark roast. Kathryn informed me that they usually stop making it by this point in the evening.

The light roast was room temp.

The floors were sticky from the entrance door, through the checkout line, and into the bathroom. I did not visit the main dining area.

I'm disappointed in this Panera for two reasons: one, it's brand new and therefore should be on point for everything; two, it doesn't seem to know that the monthly coffee promotion means that coffee demand has and will increase as more people find out about it.

Update Wednesday 4 March 2020

Visit at approximately 10:30am. It took half a large cup to empty the Dark Roast urn. I informed an employee, didn't catch her name, and she was immediately apologetic and offered to brew a new batch. I declined the offer and topped my cup off with the light roast.

Another visit at approximately 6:30pm. It was perfect!!! All four coffee urns available; Dark Roast filled and hot' fully stocked and clean fixins; floor not sticky; engaged, friendly, and competent staff; and, customers seemed satisfied. Except...see photo. Crunchy coffee has its place, just not at a brand new Panera.

Update Thursday 5 March 2020

Large coffee approximately 6:15pm.

Perfect! Available, hot, no grounds at the bottom, and the fixins were clean and stocked.

Panera met expectations on this visit.

Update Saturday 7 March 2020

Used my coffee subscription at approximately 5pm. Dark roast available and hot! Supplies stocked and clean. Great job to Sydney for making sure I got the proper sized cup. The large size, normally placed next to the self-serve kiosk along with the other sizes, was out, so just grabbed the next biggest size because I didn't feel like asking for the large one at the cash register. Sydney surprised me with a large size as I was filling up. I hope that this location can keep her as long as it can because she is definitely...

I was excited when I heard a new Panera was being built and had been to many in Virginia.. My first visit was with friends and found the layout a little crowded and confusing. The food was good but the service was lacking which I chalked up to just opening and hoping that would improve. I was in no hurry to return and my wife and I gave it another try for lunch. Unfortunately this visit was much worse. I noticed that the pastry case and Bagel baskets were almost empty which is usually a sign of poor management. We placed our order at the counter where the cashier with no name tag seemed a little stressed. My wife ordered the Thai Chicken salad with the dressing on the side. She was told that the salad came with peanuts on it and if that was OK? To which she replied that was fine and leave them on the salad. What she got was dressing all over her salad and NO peanuts. The cashier did not ask about what side we wanted but automatically put the Baguette on both our order so I had to change that when I went to pick up the food myself. I ordered the half and half of the Chicken Fuji Apple Salad and the Chipolte chicken avocado melt . What I got was a salad with no dressing so had to go get some and the bread for the sandwich was a little over baked and tough to chew. When we went to sit down many of the tables were dirty. My wife set her drink on two seat table and the table started to fall over. Another customer said all of the tables were like that. We found another table and sat down after having to wipe it off. I had been given a gift card to Panera for Christmas which was part of the reason we went there for lunch. Fortunately the gift card covered all but $2.87 of the check. I would say that is about what the visit was worth...., $2.87 and not much more. I see no...

Panera Bread Manatee Ave ownership (corporate or otherwise): FIGURE IT OUT. Stop gaslighting your customers with the virus worker shortage excuse and pay what is needed to open your dining area!

Your customers blame you, the ownership, even if it’s not being voiced. It’s tough to voice complaints when the only point of contact is employees, as it’s not their fault. But you designed it that way, never taking accountability for the “new normal” that you clearly prefer for profits.

So your employees have enough time to walk out curbside orders to the far side of the parking lot but they can’t wipe down the dining area occasionally? I call BS. You can’t reopen the dining area because you don’t want to do what’s needed to make it happen, plain and simple.

Your location, like every other Panera, has a HUGE dining area that people used to enjoy dining in, maybe you forgot. Like many other people who won’t leave reviews, we won’t be coming to your establishment until you get it back to normal and serve your customers properly instead of making your customers serve your greedy interests.

It’s been long enough. Stop the madness! It’s time to stop making excuses and FIGURE IT OUT for your customers. You serve us, not the...