Panera Bread reviews

3.4

49% would recommend to a friend

(18,761 total reviews)
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Paul Carbone

40% approve of CEO

32% positive business outlook

Panera Bread has an employee rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars, based on 18,761 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).

Reviews by job title

19K reviews
1.0
Jan 5, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- You can be proud of the product - The company donates all products to charities - The company does lots to help local and national charities - MOST of the guests are pleasant people to get to know

Cons

If you work for Panera in the state of Florida (except Jacksonville) you will be working for the Covelli family. They own all the restaurants in the state as well as the Ohio Valley area. This makes them the largest franchisee in the Panera Bread system. Their ownership percentage gives them a lot of 'power' to run their Panera Bread locations however they please and it is not good. As a business it is the objective to make money BUT the Covelli family would run over their people if it meant an extra nickle in their pocket. As dramatic as it sounds I do not hesitate to refer to this family as EVIL. Go ahead and google the name and you will see law suites for racism and not paying their employees for hours worked. This is something that exists throughout the entire company. The upper management will tell you NOT to hire black people. They only want young, white, and attractive girls to be hired. I was ordered to do thisthis directly to my face. I was with the company long enough to hear about other franchises and how different it was but the Covelli franchise is so big and means so much to the corporate bottom line that the complaints and law suites fall on deft ears.

4.0
Apr 4, 2014

franchise panera,

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

In the bakery division of panera there is pan-up, day baker, night baker, head baker, "CBT" certified baker trainer, "BTS" baker training specialist, "BMM" bakery market manager, regional bakery manager and this is also how the pay scale falls with pan-up being the lower paid position making hourly and regional bakery manager making the higher as a salary position. Training to become a certified night baker with the company takes 3+ months, you will learn how to name, list all ingredients, handle and shape all bakery products. Next is learning how to proof all products to proper temp and size along with scoring breads before baking. Then bake in a rack and deck oven to proper color. bakers get free meals, health, dental and vision, a week vacation after a yr and 2weeks after 3 or 5 i can't remember exactly. If the BMM knows your responcible you can be able to open multiple stores which means 40-70hrs a week due to high opening sales.

Cons

schedule can be a con, bakery has a high turn over so you may have to cover multiple positions as well as shifts which can hurt your social life but if your wanting more hrs it can be a plus. the responsibility can be hard for some because if your bake is unacceptable you will be notified and your raises is based on calibrations which is a grade on your bake every celebration and celebrations are months picked through out of the yr to celebrate seasonal items. raises can be a task to achieve at a franchise i would suggest working for a corporate bakery because they are over all better.

2.0
Mar 19, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

There are none that I can honestly think of. - The Store manager was a very caring individual and tried to make the environment the best she could

Cons

Many cons - Lack of training but, high expectations - Very low pay for the amount of labor that you provide - Very hectic Rushes and rude customers - Management was full of young shift managers that we very childish

Viewing 34 - 36 of 18,761 Reviews

Glassdoor has 19,058 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.