Panera Bread reviews

3.4

50% would recommend to a friend

(18,810 total reviews)
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Paul Carbone

42% approve of CEO

34% positive business outlook

Panera Bread has an employee rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars, based on 18,810 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
2.0
Feb 6, 2014

Lots of work, very little pay

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

65% discount Paid vacation after 1 year Associates can be fun to work and hang out with Tolerable for a temporary (6 months-1 year) job with no skills required Paid training

Cons

Can be very stressful Compensation is very poor, considering everything you have to put up with Difficult customers Physically demanding May be forced to work 8 hours or more on your feet with no break Managers have unreasonable expectations of what you can achieve in a given amount of time Managers are constantly looking for ways to cut corners and save money Little or no pay raise Dead end job, unless you want to get involved in the politics of management Managers often pick favorites who can get away with anything, while others are written up for little mistakes Some managers are awarded bonuses based on profit, so they try to make the most sales with the least amount of people, forcing everyone to work twice as hard (without a raise) while the manager reaps the rewards. Managers think they are too good to help with certain things Short notice of mandatory evening weekend meetings Lazy managers who constantly pawn their work off onto low-wage associates

2.0
Jan 23, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I very much enjoyed the actual work. Things were really specific, and had a set process that was easy to get used to and memorize.

Cons

The location that I worked at had pretty bad management. Everyone was very young (teens-probably mid/early twenties), except for probably two managers (who didn't have as many hours). it was more like a high school. There was no differentiation between everyone because they were all best friends, so no one was giving direction or orders, really. A manager had it out for me in particular (for which I have no understanding of why, I am an extremely hard worker and very obedient) and continually caused issues with me. I was written up for mistakes (I'm human, I make them) that were very unfair and biased against me. Others would make similar mistakes (keep in mind, I made them when I was first learning), but because they were all friends, it didn't matter. I saw some employees go around the guidelines of health, throw away a ridiculous amount of food because they didn't want to properly put it away, it was just sad. The last straw was when they told me to come in or I would be fired when I was sick with a stomach bug and was set to work on the sandwich bar. I came in, stayed in the bathroom the entire time, and avoided the duties because I didn't want to make anyone sick, let alone serve customers their food. I put in my two weeks not long after and wrote a very long letter to the district manager. I received a short response saying they would look into it and never heard anything again.

2.0
Jan 15, 2014

Management?

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good food on lunch. Employee Discount

Cons

Horrible management Filthy environment Trainers with no knowledge of food safety or FIFO

Viewing 400 - 402 of 18,810 Reviews

Glassdoor has 19,107 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.