Casual dining restaurants have known about it for years. Panera Bread just discovered it.
The Pager
Enter Panera with confidence knowing that you won't have to stand in that awkward area where everyone crowds around the food counter like cattle waiting for their meal to be ready. Panera now takes your name and hands you a pager. The only problem is, everyone is still crowding around the food counter waiting in line and holding their pager!!
I was unsure if the customers didn't understand the purpose of the pager, or if they were afraid that someone might take their food if they weren't standing there to guard it. The concept of the pager is that you take it and can get told when your food is ready from anywhere in the restaurant.
The overlaying problem at Panera has always been too many people in a very small space. From the moment you walk in the confusion begins as guests try to determine where the line actually starts and ends. I have discovered the best tactic is to just go right up to the Panera employee to order - start your own line. The crowd behind you will follow your lead.
After you struggle through the mass of people trying to order, take your pager and try to avoid the line of people waiting at the food counter. Now head on over to the miniature drink station and elbow everyone else as you try to get ice from the machine.
Panera could solve a few of their problems, if they could execute the pager system properly. It would work if the Panera employee simply said: "Here is a pager, feel free to find a seat and we will page you when your meal is ready."
I was unsure if the customers didn't understand the purpose of the pager, or if they were afraid that someone might take their food if they weren't standing there to guard it. The concept of the pager is that you take it and can get told when your food is ready from anywhere in the restaurant.
The overlaying problem at Panera has always been too many people in a very small space. From the moment you walk in the confusion begins as guests try to determine where the line actually starts and ends. I have discovered the best tactic is to just go right up to the Panera employee to order - start your own line. The crowd behind you will follow your lead.
After you struggle through the mass of people trying to order, take your pager and try to avoid the line of people waiting at the food counter. Now head on over to the miniature drink station and elbow everyone else as you try to get ice from the machine.
Panera could solve a few of their problems, if they could execute the pager system properly. It would work if the Panera employee simply said: "Here is a pager, feel free to find a seat and we will page you when your meal is ready."
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