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      Panera Bread

      Engaged Employer

      Panera Bread reviews

      3.4

      49% would recommend to a friend

      (18,762 total reviews)
      avatar

      Paul Carbone

      41% approve of CEO

      33% positive business outlook

      Ratings by category

      3.8

      Diversity & inclusion

      3.2

      Culture & values

      3.2

      Work/Life balance

      3.0

      Career opportunities

      2.9

      Senior management

      2.9

      Compensation and benefits

      Panera Bread has an employee rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars, based on 18,762 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Panera Bread employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Restaurants & Food Service industry (3.4 stars).

      Ratings by demographic groups

      Reviews by job title

      19K reviews
      3.0
      Mar 14, 2010

      Alright

      Floor employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      decent place to start aas a young individual, good environment and good chance to establish work ethic with a laid back environment, discount on food while working

      Cons

      little opportunity for advancement most employees are young and do not care as much as they should management tends to be more concerned with getting out of work on time

      1.0
      Mar 10, 2010

      Least Enjoyable Restaurant Management Job-Ever

      Assistant manager
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Staff is the best reason to work at Panera. Associates are usually hired based on their match from a personality test. This test if done by the applicant honestly, it brings a varied group of coworkers who really want to do a good job. Diversity in the workplace is organic and supported by Corporate. Like most restaurants, days are filled with familiar regular customers, a fast paced work environment, and an opportunity to make a direct impact with excellent customer service every hour, every day. Panera has something special and unexplained that makes customers truly love their Panera! The food discounts for associates is among the best in the industry. Managers get free meals up to $10 every workday which adds up to a signficant personal food cost savings at the end of the year. The quality of food is stellar. Nothing beats a sandwich or snack on a bagel just out of the oven! Benefits like health and dental are decent, however annual fees rise with healthcare costs.

      Cons

      As a manager, there is a competitiveness within each cafe's "management team" that borders on psychiotic. The name of the game is not about working together, but about carving out strategies and alignments to get co-managers fired whenever possible. This environment extends the psychiotic behavior to undercut and bad-mouth the GM as the best avenue for advancement. Counter to most corporations where the management team does everything to support the GM, this company sets an environment where manager is pitted against manager and only the most deviant rise at the end of the day. Corporate culture reinforces the back-stabbing competiveness by a constant daily focus on "opportunities" rather than strengths. Managers focus more on what their comanager has done done wrong, than what they personally can do better to make the cafe and sales better. Work-Life balance is non-existent. Managers are required to work "at least" 9 hour days with no breaks, grabbing a meal "on the run." Manager and store meetings might fall within one's "scheduled 45hr workweek ,but managers are required to attend these meetings even if they are sceduled "off." A true workweek will be more like 50-55 hours at the cafe a week. Shifts are rotated regularly so that managers wake at the same time they went to sleep just a day or two before. Having two days off in a row is considered lucky. Schedules are supposed to be done a month at a time for managers, but more often than not, schedules are given weekly with just a day or two notice of the next week's schedule. There is a huge disconnect between core corporate beliefs and actual corporate culture. Panera is a company that talks the talk but doesn't walk the walk. Pay increases do not follow corporate profits. There are always excuses. Manager bonuses at older cafes are near impossible due to profits needing to be spent on equipment maintence and capital expenditures.

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      Glassdoor has 19,059 Panera Bread reviews submitted anonymously by Panera Bread employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Panera Bread is right for you.