Dave sent the following lovenote to Panera Bread after they made a bad situation into a great customer service experience. He writes,
On 8/26/08 I stopped by my local Panera Bread [in Waterloo Iowa] after work to pick up dinner for my wife and I. We’ve always been very pleased with the level of service and quality of food we’ve received from Panera in the past. Last night however was a slightly different experience…
I ordered a pick 2 with the smoked turkey sandwich and a Caesar salad for my wife, and I ordered the chicken and rice soup in a breadbowl for myself. I waited in line while other customers received their tasty orders and I watched (as much as I could, due to your high counters) as the employees assembled our dinners. They called my name and I took my bag and headed home. I live about 4 miles from Panera. I arrived home and started to take our meals out
of the bag only to find that my wife’s salad was mistakenly overlooked.Frustrated, I called the store and spoke with the manager, I started to explain the situation and before I could get two sentences into the story, the manager asked if I was missing a Caesar salad from my pick two!
She explained that there were two gentlemen in line named Dave and we apparently both ordered Pick 2′s. She then offered to hold $20 in gift certificates at the store for us or mail them out to our house. Our total for the evening was less than $12 and the salad probably accounted for less than a third of that. Its not very often I deal with such great customer service like this. Please be sure to let the manager that evening know she’s doing an EXCELLENT job of keeping her customers happy and coming back to Panera Bread!
Thank you very much!!!
- Dave in Iowa
Radical. See how effective great service can be? This proactive manager transformed a potentially a damaging experience for Dave into a success story turning this customer into a fan. Not only will Dave and his wife return again to Panera, but they probably also tell this out of-the-ordinary story to others.
(Photo: Morton Fox)
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Oops…didn’t mean to submit yet.
Everyone is always pleasant. The one thing I don’t like is that they’re expensive, and charge more to swap the chips in the meal for a healthier option like an apple.
Panera is my favorate place to eat! They have free wifi, which they ENCOURAGE you to use and they have great food. I have spent as much as 5 hours (and about $40) in one sitting!
Kudos to panera!
@pinkbox = Yep. I have done so in the past after I figured out they didnt want to do it standard. I event went so far as to say, Bagel to go, stressing ‘please put the cream cheese on it’, and still they didnt do it. I had to pretty much refuse to accept it before they would do put it on. I’m originally from the northeast, and I have never encountered a bagel place that didn’t put cream cheese on the bagels before I came to Florida. I can understand if I ordered a dozen, but it should come standard on ‘one to go’, and they shouldnt look at me like I’m crazy when I ask them to put it on there.
I’ve never had a bad experience with their food — but reserving the ‘meeting’ room? I’ve had my reservations (confirmed and reconfirmed) moved out from under me, had them double book (and just go, “Gee, sorry. too bad.”), have had them say, “We’re too busy to do this now” and walk away (and not in a polite, “Geez, I’m really sorry” voice – - it’s not like it was lunch or dinner rush, either).
On the other hand, the one I used to frequent the most (before I recently moved) would sometimes let a friend and I sit and work (at a regular table) until they were literally locking the doors, because we were quiet and not bothering anyone. Nice folks!
I’ve had great experiences with them. Last year, after a storm here in Illinois, we decided to eat at Panera since we were without power. One worker there was so sympathetic for us that she basically was waiting on our table and did everything she could to help us. We were probably their only customers that day but it was still really going above and beyond. (the shitty ComEd service had skipped our block and lit up the rest of the neighborhood, it took a treefall on a nearby circuit for them to remember us despite 3 days of angry calls and running a generator back and forth between our current home and the one we had recently moved out of to keep the basements dry. / angry OT)
I love Panera! I can rarely afford to eat a full meal there, but for just a coffee and bagel they are cheaper than anywhere else. And their coffee is yummy!
The people who work there are sometimes young & clueless, but always seem friendly and happy to help. When I have ordered a regular meal, there have been no mistakes, but they seem like they would be happy to fix any problems I might have.
I always search out a Panera when I am road tripping, because I know I can access the internet with my laptop, and check my e-mail and such while I eat.
As for the “put the spread on the bagel” debate sparked by btdown – I would guess that for everyone who wants the cream cheese put on the bagel for them, there is at least one person who doesn’t.
When I am at Einstein bagel, I have to ask for them to “please put it on the side” because I can’t stand to try to clean up the slop of too much crap on my bagel, especially if I will be driving!
Phooey, I waited an hour for my crispani at Panera once (Apparently twice the machine didn’t work to send the order back to the cooks) and all I got was the meal for free.