Almost everyday around 7:00pm Panera Bread is out of their good soups.
On a recent Friday night, my wife and I were having the usual Friday night married couple conversation, I ask "Where do you want to go tonight?" she says "Oh I don't care, whatever you want is fine." (We all know that by making this statement, I have to use my man skills to try and figure out where she actually wants to go without asking her anymore questions).
I made a few suggestions and decided on Panera Bread. We were both in the mood for some amazing broccoli cheddar soup with an extra side of bread.
We make it to Panera and walk in with high hopes and look up at their "magnetic soup board" to discover only about two soups left up on the menu. These of course are the soups that nobody likes, such as "Low Fat Vegetarian Black Bean Soup". If it's black bean soup isn't it automatically vegetarian and low fat?
We stand in awe for a few moments, look at our watches....it's only about 7pm. Well I think, maybe they have some more soup hiding in the back their just not telling us about. I ask the Panera employee, "Do you guys have any broccoli cheddar soup?"...."No, we're out."
Ok...but to get things straight, they're not just out of broccoli cheddar, they are out of every good soup that Panera has. What's mind blowing about this is two things:
1. This is not the first time this has happened to me, I have frequently gone to Panera in the evening only to discover a severe shortage of soup.
2. Panera's soup comes in a bag. A BAG! This is not a hand crafted creation that someone has slaved over for hours. Just order more bags of soup! You know everyone loves broccoli cheddar soup, so just get more!
The difference on this particular visit is that they were not just out of soup. Since they didn't have any soup, I asked if I could get one of their chicken sandwiches....they were out of chicken. Let's take a step back here to analyze what's happening. Panera Bread is now out of their two essential menu items: soup and chicken. Why are they even open right now?
What if Burger King ran out of burgers, if Steak & Shake ran out of shakes, or if Olive Garden ran out of olives...oh wait, that's happened to me before too.
Panera Bread - it's simple. We want broccoli cheddar soup and we want it every hour you're open, not just during the lunch rush. I'm tired of Panera being a modern version of the Soup Nazi.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
It's 7pm, Panera's Out of Soup
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Hi Dan!
ReplyDeleteI'm a huge fan of green Eggs. I always read your blog. Keep up the good work man.
Oh yeah! I hate Panera and never go there because they're always out of my favorite soup "Veggie".
Keep writing and I'll keep reading.
much love
B
Now, as we all know, I have 3 years of intense, behind the scenes Panera experience. They keep their soup frozen and then put it in the thermolizer for, like, an hour to dethaw it and then they put it out. Some idiot may have forgotten to unfreeze the soup and they were like "Screw it, we'll do without." Lazy, minimum wage workers. One time though, I was working and they ran out of every bread except the gross stuff...like...rye or something. It was awkward and my manager suggested turning off the "Bread" part of our lit up sign outside. Sorry, for a second there I thought this was my blog. Anyway, point is, sorry you had a crappy experience there...but, um, black bean is really good
ReplyDeleteThe Soup Nazi line is my favorite.
ReplyDelete"No Soup For You"
hahaha
If they were out of turkey bravos, that's when you needed to jump behind the counter and start making food yourself.
Vegetarian descriptions do not typically mean vegetarian ingredients. Nearly all soups contain chicken or beef broth, which of course is not vegetarian. Campbell's offers a vegetable soup and a vegetarian vegetable soup, which is bade from vegetable broth.
ReplyDeleteGet over it. Work a day in fast food. A$$ holes like you are the reason employees don't give a crap.
ReplyDeleteYou're a dick and you have no idea what is going on.
ReplyDeleteI've tried to eat at Panera Bread twice -- each during a quiet, non-rush period. Both times the service personnel behind the counter were so pre-occupied with other non-service related banter or tasks that after 3-5 minutes of not being acknowledged (forget waited upon), I walked out. They apparently never noticed/cared I was there, much less that they lost a sale.
ReplyDeleteI've been in food service for many years, including as a server/waitron (I now own and run Nancy's Bar-B-Q Catering and Delivery). I know that a no matter how pre-occupied a server/counter person might be, a smile and "I'll be right with you" goes a long way. I give Panera an "A" for what they've built, but an "F" for service. And yes, Sarasota has a shallow talent pool when it comes to finding help who "gets it."
If you want to bitch at anyone do it to a manager, they are the ones who order the food.
ReplyDeleteI work there and it stresses me out when we run out of stuff because I know the customers are going to bitch at me for something I can't control.
Don't bitch at the cashier for running out of food. I work at a Panera Bread, and if we don't have soup toward the end of the night, it's because someone on the production line (where they make your expensive-ass food) forgot to drop a new bag into the thermolizer. If you're going into the store between 7-8 PM, that's generally about an hour before we close. If someone goes to drop a soup into the thermolizer an hour before we close, guess when it's ready to be served? About ten minutes after we lock the door.
ReplyDeleteSo yeah, it is a problem, and I'm not defending any of the stupid employees who don't keep the cafe stocked, but how about you learn the details of how food service works before you bitch and moan about your petty little soup problems? If you spent a day balancing high school and a minimum wage job that demanding, having to deal with unsympathetic assholes like yourself, you'd be stressed too.