Panera Bread — Restaurant in Scott Township

Interesting and confusing to say the least. Usually service is really good, and I'm a regular about 1-3 times a week, or once every 2 weeks depending on my budget.

I've had no complaints thus far, and usually I'm not one to strike against a company for one altercation. However, I came in late at night (understandable product is low) but they literally had no bread... I was thinking okay, I'm a reasonable guy - no problem.

Then the associate says they only have brioche for my Mediterranean Veggie sandwich. I was like well, I'm really hungry so that will do. I asked if that means I will get 2 brioche rolls to account for the mass of the sandwich:: 1 half of med-veg is roughly the same size as one small brioche. So two would cover the cost and mass of the sandwich. Makes sense right?

He went to ask his manager if that was okay, and came back to report that I would only be getting one brioche (a VERY tiny bun) and fit ALL of the toppings of a WHOLE sandwich on that.... very confused, frustrated, and the manager seemingly not caring as he did not appear to the front desk, I simply left.

I can understand if maybe, MAYBE it was a very expensive type of bread and they were only willing to part with one roll. But its a brioche roll that comes prepackaged, its very cheap... like a hamburger bun. The fact that this was denied outright for no reason is ridiculous. I am highly confused since first, it's not my fault that your bread company is out of bread, second even being a reasonable customer you were unwilling to work with me, and thirdly you didn't want to part with an extra brioche roll OF ALL THINGS!

I took my business down to Chipotle. Panera crew is great, but someone should take a look at the petty management. When you're out of stock of something, you have to accommodate the customer... that's simple business ethics....

I’ve been feeling increasingly disappointed with this location, and today was the final straw. I visit 2–3 times a month, and they are always out of something...ALWAYS — no matter the time of day. Whether it’s a distributor issue or poor inventory management, it’s unacceptable at this point.

To avoid the usual frustration, I told my wife we’d place our dinner order early in the day — hoping they’d still have everything in stock. We tried ordering the new Summer Strawberry Salad, only to find out they were already out of strawberries — at 3 p.m.. We defaulted to our go-to items: a Bacon Turkey Bravo, Fuji Apple Chicken Salad (also out of pecans, like every time) with chips, and two extra bags of chips (because Panera chips are a favorite).

When I arrived at the scheduled pickup time, I was told they couldn’t fulfill the order because they were out of chips — offering baguettes or apples instead. Neither was what I wanted or paid for. I spoke with the manager to ask why they’re always out of key ingredients, including heavily advertised items like the strawberry salad. She explained that while they can make the salad in-store, they don’t offer it online to avoid overselling...WHAT? — but somehow still managed to oversell the chips I ordered in advance.

This is beyond frustrating. I didn’t place my order at the end of the day, but ahead of time to avoid this issue - and the manager said they "always run out of chips by then." That’s not a customer problem — that’s a store operations problem.

I’m giving two stars only because when they do have everything, the food is fresh and well-prepared, and the staff is consistently polite. But frankly, they’re probably used to apologizing at this point, since they have to do it so often.

Panera, this location needs serious attention. Until it gets it, you’ve lost...

If you order rapid pickup do not expect your food to ever actually be on the shelf when you arrive even if you purposely come 10-15 minutes after you received the email that your order is ready hoping it will actually be there. This is literally the 9-10th time in a row I purposely waited 10-15 minutes after I received the email and it never fails that my bag is just sitting on the counter with no one around and the place isn’t even busy. Typically have to stand there and stare at my food getting cold since the one time I just decided to grab it after standing there for 5 minutes the worker walked over to give me an attitude that I wasn’t allowed to grab it. I’m a pretty easy going person which is why instead of complaining I just decided to come later but that doesn’t even work.

Update: year later Gotta love a year later the same thing is still happening…. Now they just moved the shelf to block so you don’t see your bag just sitting there 10 minutes after they sent you an email it’s ready. Smh. Note they just put up a sign saying if you don’t see your order it’s being checked for accuracy 🤣 why wouldn’t it be checked for accuracy before telling the customer it’s ready🙄 sure seems like this location may be padding times food is...