Panera Bread Employee Review

Former Employee – worked at Panera Bread full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Core values taught and repeated enough to make a positive impact throughout cafes
Competitive salary (for established locations*)
Five day work weeks (6 day "unofficial" requirement for first 2 weeks of new cafe openings)
45 scheduled hours per week
Great training resources for the entire operation - any and all questions can be answered within minutes after looking through the online database of training docs or after a phone call to the "help desk" IT support which is on call 24/7.

Cons – Promotions and new job openings given to "friends of friends" like many other companies...it's still very annoying
45 scheduled hours can see a 30% spike during new cafe openings and this is very high. I have seen higher jumps in weekly work hours during new cafe openings and the workload is often unfairly put on the shoulders of the few people who seem to make the best of things with the least amount of help.
There are shift supervisors working for the company that make more money than some assistant managers.
New positions that emerge within the company are often filled before an opportunity arises for anyone to apply. The "opportunity for growth" is always mentioned in cafes to anyone interested in "climbing the corporate ladder", but it is something that eludes many talented individuals in the company.

Advice to Senior Management – Corporate phrases that are repeated over and over again mean nothing to managers that want to know how to work through everything you need them to. More talk of strategy, goal setting and accountability need to take place in every cafe. Special treatment with a blatant disregard for management structure should be fixed immediately and giving praise more often than "never" will help more than you know!

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company