Panera Bread’s noble experiment in pay-what-you-want retail has been successful at its first two restaurants in St. Louis and Detroit, taking in about 80% of the retail price of the food they serve. They serve as shining reminders of the fundamental goodness of people. In the Midwest, anyway. Until recently, the third free-will restaurant in Portland, Oregon was faltering, not attracting enough paying customers and losing money. not taking in as much as Panera’s similar eateries. [More]
donation-based retail
Why Panera’s Pay-What-You-Can Restaurant Didn’t Work As Well In Portland
By 9.29.11 — Updated: 6.27.16
Surprisingly, Panera Bread's "Pay What You Can" Model Is Working
By 5.18.11
Panera Bread has been trying out a donation-only “pay what you can” model at three locations for the past year, and says that it’s working. The chain says that 60% of people put in the full retail amount in the box, 20% put more in, and 20% put in less. Panera’s founder says it all works because “people are fundamentally good” but I’d like to see how well one of these stores located in an area where greed, theft, and self-interest above all is glamorized — like Wall Street. [More]
