personally it wasn't that bad. some good stuff happened. but society decided it wanted to set itself up for an insane shit show that we're only now figuring out how much
I have to give them a shitload of credit though. They absolutely obliviated a rock-solid reputation for high-quality, healthy, affordable food - overnight.
That took talent.
Also - Fuck JAB and every other VC/PE firm that's actively and aggressively turning decent companies into shit shows in order to draw as much cash out as humanly possible. Wreckage be damned.
Their hedge funds will short all the stocks, and they'll get the upside of construction costs of turning over the closed locations, and be the landlord who bumps the lease for the next tenant.
Private equity and venture capital firms are such a disease anymore. I understand them in principle but they are so destructive the way we let them romp.
It's really bad in the industry of restaurants as well. The consensus nowadays is that restaurants fail easily and make small margins. This is because of the corporate landscape developed from venture capitalists ensuring companies saturate markets by feeding them money without the need for immediate profits. It's actually hard to think of an industry that hasn't been decayed from this exact same process. You end up with three big companies in the end. And it seems like nowadays we're not even getting three companies, it's the big two.
In the case of Red Lobster, buying them up, degrading the quality and service, selling the land to whatever other company owned by them, jack up the rent and put them out of business. And that's a successful business model for the parent company!
Profit by buying something and bleeding it dry.
And get the president blamed for it.
Private equity at its finest. Let’s squeeze value and OpTiMiZe.
We started going to boudin bakery and realized the price and food quality and offerings are like old panera but better. We started calling it bougie panera or Bougin bakery. I will most likely never go to panera again.
I had no idea this buyout happened but I did notice Panera quality went out the door. Used to go 2x a week and now rarely go if ever. Plus they got rid of the better version of their chicken soup and the sierra turkey sandwich
I'm not going to tip regardless. But if custom button is taped up I'm reporting the place to the BBB or local state agency. And then of course not paying nor getting my food. I would demand a refund or get a CC chargeback and never go there again.
Didn't leave a tip, reported to BBB, charged back, asked for manager, left a bad review, unfriended, unfollowed, unsubscribed, blocked, called Biden, messaged admin, got a restraining order, told my mom, changed locks, recorded a diss track, and hired a skywriter.
Bring you own food, german beergarden style. But they'll charge you full price for the food you bring.
Unlike german beergarden were its tradition that you buy the beer there but are absolutely allowed to bring your own food if you don't want to order at the place.
Gonna be honest, I would frequent a place that allowed me to be my own cashier, ring up what I wanted, exactly how I wanted it, and then precision robots would weigh out and create my meal exactly as I asked without ever making a mistake and it slides out of the sealed and hygienic kitchen area.
Same. Even if you give me the best service I’ve ever had in my entire life, I will be telling you that I’m not leaving a tip if the no tip button is covered with tape simply for trying to force me to leave one. If you have any problems with that, then go complain to your manager and tell them that they need to take the tape off.
Ive cleaned up every single table* (*minus like, maybe 2 or 3 where the server literally felt like we were doing them a disservice by existing and asking for food in a restaurant.) I've ever been at, regardless of if it was my table or if i was invited after the fact, I still stacked them bitches and made the servers life easier. I tipped. I always hit 20-30% unless they suck, then they get a measly 18%. But if all you did was literally hand me my food, I ain't tippin shit. And don't make me feel guilty, cause it won't work. You're not bussing tables, worrying about drinks, etc etc. Don't try to beg for that server life tip when you don't work the server life.
Your joke got me curious, because the last time I got something at Panera it was absurdly expensive and the world's gotten really fucky since then. But I can't find the price because they don't sell it right now apparently.
Son, ain't no Panera in Okeechobee a nor for miles. Closest one out on way to Palm Beach. Ain't no one's got time for dat, Wes gots crops to get to market. 'Sides, my backyard tree gives better than this abominations. Shoooooott.
It doesn't look great, but it absolutely looks much better.
And for $4.50, it's fine, if you're into avocado toast I guess. I don't know about the mayo though, seems weird. Everything bagel seasoning seems good though.
They used to be great, but every time they "enhance" their menu it just gets shittier, and there are less options to choose from. This picture doesnt surprise me in the slightest.
Used to get the “you pick 2” tuna sandwich and vegetable soup for lunch and it was a good deal. Big half of a sammich and I loved the vegetable soup. Usually was like $10 for the combo with a baguette or chips.
Last I checked it’s $20 and the sandwich half shrunk at least to the size of a quarter sandwich. The soup cup also shrunk unless you now pay an extra $3 for the “bowl” size which is just the old cup size.
The bowl size used to be a legit fucking massive bowl
Haven't gone in a decade. I hate broccoli. But I know that everyone else loved the broccoli cheddar mac n cheese, so I'm confused why they would 86 it.
Panera is probably the biggest rip off when it comes to food, it’s borderline criminal to what they’re doing. And what’s even more crazy, people keep going back.
Swore off them a few months ago because the menu just kept getting shittier yet somehow more expensive. I used to enjoy it just for the ease of getting a coffee / sandwich at the same spot for lunch. Fuck that place.
Panera used to be fast food good. Now they just focus on the profitability of the next quarter and absolutely nothing else. The brand will be destroyed.
And the common thread between both companies? Both were bought by vulture investment firms that go in and squeeze every last penny out of an acquisition. They bank on any good will and customer loyalty the brand had built up beforehand and quickly make ingredients worse, prices higher, and screw over staff/franchisees to make as much money for corporate as they can before they either sell it off again or strip it for parts and leave a desiccated corpse behind.
I went to Subway yesterday around 11am and they were out of onion, green pepper, and cucumbers. I always get a veggie sandwich, so this was like… half of my order just not available.
There was a Meijer grocery store right across the street, too. So worst case, the manager should have headed over and picked up some veg before opening.
Yep. Chains and especially franchises have strict agreements with suppliers that prevent them from using alternative sources for ingredients unless the official supplier is notified and grants permission per the contract. This is also for legal purposes to protect the business, because if tainted food gets into their store they can blame the supplier who typically has insurance for those types of claim and also keeps strong chain of custody records for food shipments per FDA and DOA and even FTC requirements. But if the manager goes to the store and picks up some tainted food the chain of custody for the food is now in question, and the chain can't claim the problem was their supplier.
They did more than that. They straight up laid off all the bakers and installed freezers for thaw 'n serve frozen bread. They also retired the "clean food" narrative to cheap out on ingredients.
The pursuit of infinite growth is just insane. With these huge companies a profitable store is never good enough. They always want more even if it means screwing the company in the long run.
As someone who works there, I agree. We’re not allowed to package up the pastries until closing. Because it doesn’t “look as nice”. Know what happens when you leave pastries out in the display case all day? They get hard and stale. The cinnamon rules are like hockey pucks
The shitty thing is there is an inexhaustible number of companies that this tactic can be used on
Maximize shareholder value on a well known brand, erode the brand and take profit....move on to the next opportunity while making a shit ton of money. It does not matter if the company fails as another will take its place in the market.
They got bought by a new company that decided to rely on their reputation of high quality, healthy food and has slowly lowered the quality (and health) of the food in order to save on costs and maximize profits.
I was a daily bagel and coffee guy at Panera for almost a decade. Since COVID I’ve watched the price of a bagel and coffee quadruple. The last straw was when they wanted $3 for just the bagel (a mini cup of cream cheese almost $4 by itself - but I had been bringing the bagel home and using my own tubs of cream cheese for a long time).
Used to be $1.50 for the bagel and coffee every day and it was my go-to breakfast, when it got to $5 I just kicked Panera and got an AeroPress.
They're one of the most cut and dry examples of enshitification. They built a reputation from being a premium soup and sandwich place with above average food at a great price and have been testing how much they could reduce quality/increase price with baffling efficiency.
Same! I can’t believe how much they’re charging for hospital food. If that’s what I wanted to eat, I would’ve hit up a cafeteria at a local hospital and it’ll probably be cheaper than Panera.
Yup, not trying to defend whoever was in charge of op's order, but I've ordered their avocado toast and did get something that resembled the promo pictures.
After this, I will. There’s a local place that makes amazing avacado toast, I should’ve just gone there but wanted to see what paneras was like, and now I have my answer
Last time I went to Panera, I got some sort of roast beef sandwich and would have rather eaten my sock.
It's really unfortunate because they used to be halfway decent, but everything with them has progressively gotten worse. Your local business will take better care of you any day of the week. You may spend a dollar or two more, but the quality should be off the charts comparatively speaking.
These shops employee people who get paid and live nearby. They may be franchises which could be local owners as well. Even if it's owned by corporate only a percentage of the income goes to corporate.
So these businesses still do contribute to the local economy.
But, I also prefer to buy from small business owners when possible.
Panera bread pays literally minimum wage, while charging those absurd prices. If anything they siphon money directly out of communities into the owner's pockets.
When a Corp pays minimum wage, they expect their employees to get low income benefits from the state. Which in other words the tax payers are subsidizing their low income, so the Corp can make more money.
I highly encourage anyone that's dissatisfied with the food at Panera to file a formal complaint with their head chef. Here is a handy link for you to do so.
I believe Panera got bought up by some Wall Street types who wanted money money money from it and a great* way to make more money is spend less on quality
*it is not actually a great way, just short term effective
I live and work in the downtown area of a large city, and the only places to get lunch within walking distance from my apartment or my office are chains. I wish there were a nearby sandwich option besides Subway or JJ, or a Chinese place other than Panda Express.
That tomato has got to be one of the worst I've ever seen, it looks like it's been grown in the dark, this is why I only eat seasonal, home-grown or farmers market tomato, this is an obscenity.
Panera employee here. Our food is not that great but your toast was straight up just made incorrectly. When I make the toast it's much different. They didn't even put the toppings on. This is someone who is just straight up not good at their job.
If I got a Big Mac from McDonalds and it was the wrong ingredients inside a single untoasted bun I wouldn't be mad at McDonalds for making shitty Big Macs, but I'd be really pissed at the employee at McDonalds that wasn't making Big Macs.
Once in Latin America I went to a local market, bought a local sandwich, it looked big and tasty, when I got home to eat it, everything inside was only half of it and they took it out of the bread to make it look big
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u/Below-Decks-Watch 2d ago
Once JAB Holding Company bought Panera in 2017, you could literally see the change in quality overnight. I stopped going.