Bruegger's Bagels — Restaurant in Saint Paul

Let's start with... You are not Subway. If you want to run it like Subway, then you need to put up signs like Subway that say "Order Here" and explain to your staff that there should be NO ATTITUDE when someone's not familiar with your misalignment of the brand, Caribou.

I go to a lot of Caribou locations. The reason I go to Caribou is because I like the coffee and I want the experience to be the same. I want it to be easy, not frustrating. This location is usually not "on my way" to places but this morning it was.

First difference, why can't I place an order online for pickup? This location is blended with Bruegger's but so are several others around the cities. At those, I can pre-order and have my order ready. Why doesn't this location have the capability? It's frustrating by itself but not a deal breaker.

Second difference. There's a sign on entering that says to order one way and exit another but it doesn't say WHERE to order. Anyone who frequents Caribou is going to assume that means the register. This could have been recovered easily IF the gentlemen behind the sandwich assembly area were asking for orders but they were too busy flirting with someone who had already ordered and telling her about all the wonderful things with her tuna sandwich bagel. Two people helping one person and the rest of us wondering if we're doing it "right" or not. Pretty face doesn't mean skip the rest of the customers.

Third difference. I got to the counter to place my order. I started talking through it and the woman helping me asked if I'd ordered my sandwich back there. I said no and she interrupted me and told me, "it's like Subway, you order back there" and pointed. I asked why it wasn't like the other Caribou locations and she said, "excuse me, what do you mean?" I said, we order at the register at other locations. She then "explained" to me that this location isn't like other locations. Well no it's not, other locations have polite people working and do things the same way. This "special" treatment at this location isn't fun and it's confusing.

I left. I didn't order. In fact, I drove to one of my normal locations. I placed my order from the parking lot of this location. It was ready when I got to that location. It was easy and as expected. No surprises, no attitude, and no "special" treatment of other customers getting in the way of the rest of the customers.

So let me say it again, if you want to be Subway and be associated with Subway, then put the right signage up and make sure your employees aren't going to be rude when people familiar with your brand (Caribou) are confused by what you're doing. If you want to be Caribou, align your experience with other Caribou locations, allow online ordering, and keep it easy.

I'll remember this location forever and I won't...

Went there yesterday (9/10/2022) about 1:25 p.m. Store not busy--two ladies paying at the register and one guy ahead of me placing his order. There was one young pleasant fellow working in the bagel area and three employees in the register/bev station area. I waited a few minutes while the prior order was made. I ordered a twice-baked hashbrown and a bagel with cream cheese. While my order was being prepared, I went to the cash register to order a medium light roast coffee and to pay.

There was no one at the register. The one "older" male worker (30s?) in the bev area took a metal lid from what appeared to be a syrup dispenser and disappeared in the back of the store. The other two employees were a young guy (20s?) and a woman (20s/30s) at the bev station. Apparently, the young fellow was in training as the woman grabbed a tea bag and was telling the young guy how to prepare tea. I'm certain this woman saw me standing there because the tea container was about five feet away from me, yet she said nothing (I would have expected "we'll be with you in a moment" or some kind of acknowledgment). Finally, the young guy came to the register. I gave him my bev order only to be told that there was NO brewed coffee! The woman, who was on her way out, stated that they wouldn't be making any more coffee since it was 20 minutes to close (it was 1:35 and the store closes at 2:00). She stated that the closest thing to brewed coffee would be an americano. I declined.

I was going to eat at one of the tables outside. There were three at the adjacent patio. One was occupied; the other two had bird droppings on them. There was another table up against the building. It didn't have bird droppings on it because it was under an awning. However, it wasn't really what I would call "clean." I sat there and ate my food but I was pretty disgusted with the entire experience and won't be returning.

UPDATE (10/18/2022): Before I even posted my review on 9/11/2022, I had filed a complaint on the Bruegger's website. After posting my review here 9/11, someone from Brugger's responded to it, apologized for my experience, and suggested I go on the Bruegger's website to file a complaint. Since I had just done that, I ignored that suggestion. After a couple weeks passed with no response to the complaint I made on Bruegger's site, I thought perhaps my complaint hadn't gone through or I did something wrong. So, a couple weeks ago I used the link from the response to my 9/11 post and filed a complaint. STILL NO RESPONSE! I guess I will write a letter to the CEO. Really disappointed...

I like to give places second chances after a bad experience. But with this case, I had a terrible experience twice now with this location. One time I had came in to order a coffee and I am hard of hearing and I told the person at the register that I couldn’t hear him and if he could repeat again. Instead of repeating, he chooses to push his cheeks together to repeat what he said. I don’t know if he thought that would help me understand him or he was just a jerk. Then, I was waiting for my order and I had noticed that people who ordered after me were getting their drinks before me. So I asked the barista where my drink was and he forgot to make my drink. I told myself I wouldn’t come back but this location is super close to my house. I decided to go again once more and I had this lady at the register and she was very rude. What she didn’t know is that I used to work at a caribou. When I told her My perks number, she couldn’t understand what I said. I repeated as I wanted her to know my number. I know she didn’t put my number in, because she was pretending to punch in the number, by backspacing it all rather than asking me to repeat. This place is full of rude staff, and I refuse to enter that...