Ok…maybe just one menu item. I noticed at my local Panera that the “Bacon Turkey Bravo” sandwich is describes as “with bacon, on Tomato Basil bread.”
Now…I don’t know about you…but if I had to guess what went into a Bacon Turkey Bravo sandwich, bacon would be one of my top two guesses.
That’s it. Thanks for stopping by. Carry on. Nothing else to see here.
-D/a
Don’t assume people aren’t thinking “bacon turkey? like bacon flavored turkey? or turkey bacon? that must be what’s on the sandwich!”
I like Alpha and Charlie on my Turkey sandwiches.
Yes, but where’s the bravo? I always figured there was, I don’t know, reconstituted brash young duellist in there somewhere.
On the other hand, one can be too explicit. Like the time I stopped at a Jack in the Box and ordered a Jumbo Jack with “tomato and pickle only” (I don’t like the glop that JitB puts on their burgers). When I bit into it I found . . . tomato and pickle only. No burger.
The look on the cashier’s face when I brought it back was priceless.
I have seen a package of peanuts that said, “Contains peanuts” in the warning section.
Yeah, but I wouldn’t have guessed tomato-basil bread in half a million years, so that’s a handy piece of information to give customers.
Federal warnings labels have to follow the rules even when it seems silly. Standardization across the board, and such.
If there’s any symmetry in the world, there is bacon flavored turkey.
-D/a
I currently work at Panera. They don’t have space to put every ingredient on those boards so there’s a menu pamphlet usually by some type of sign. Hell, I don’t even know why they put the meat type up, I think they should just stick with the bread type.
Hell again, even that isn’t needed since you can basically get it on whatever bread you like.
I’d be ok with nothing being listed. But I’m a picky eater, and I order my sandwiches without salad. If it was listed as coming with lettuce and tomato (which it does), then I would know to order it without those two.
I’ve occasionally found onion on it. I know it doesn’t belong there. I blame the lack of detail on the menu…clearly the person making the sandwich could have used a better description!
On a serious note (in case it wasn’t obvious that I’m not really worried about this)…there’s a menu by the big sign in the front of the store? I never noticed. I’ll check it out. That could be…helpful!
-D/a
This thread is the reason I love the Internet.
There’s a great food network recipe for carrot salad:
Pre-shredded bag of carrots
Dressing
Brilliant.
The update I’m sure you’re all waiting for: I took a friend to a different Panera for lunch.
I saw the slots where menus could be…maybe they would have a full description on them!
Sadly, the slots were all empty at this particular store.
Next time I’m at the one near the office, I’ll look again.
Thanks for reading. 
-D/a
I agree that they’re usually placed in the most invisible place possible. :smack: It’s nearly just as much a hassle trying to explain where they are, half the time I’ll run over and grab one myself for the customer or hopefully there’s already a stack at the counter. I wish they would move it, but everything is placed according to the cookie cutout regulations.
Technically every cashier *should *know all the ingredients on the sandwiches so they’d be a good source of info. I say “should” because I’ve worked there for five months now and I still don’t know every sandwich ingredient…It’s a lot of info to memorize! I can’t say it’s on the top of my priority list right now. I do know the ingredients to all of the sandwiches I like, though.
Unrelated Panera fun fact:
I had no idea Panera offers baked potato chips as a side option. I’ve been going there for YEARS and just found this out last week.
Okay, this’ll be the last post I put on here for hijacking it into a “Ask the Panera cashier,” seriously!
There are all sorts of things you can do that Panera doesn’t tell customers usually. For side options you can get a baguette, whole grain baguette, kettle chips, baked chips, apple, 2 slices of sandwich bread, or a bagel. I like to get a bagel as my side to take it home and eat it the next day.
You can get your sandwich on almost any type of bread in the store for no extra charge. You can customize it like crazy…condiments and (most) veggies are free, cheese and meat costs extra unless you sub it from another cheese or meat that was originally on the sandwich. You can also get any sandwich with its bread toasted, or put through the panini press for no additional charge.
You can do little tricks to save money. If you and your friend are each going to do the You Pick 2 with a half sandwich and cup of soup, depending on the sandwich it may just be cheaper for you to split a whole sandwich and get a YP2 of two soups. Or, getting a YP2 of two soups and ordering an additional side baguette is cheaper than ordering two individual cups of soup. I’m not sure how much money each of these saves but it’s helped me when I’m trying to stay within the limits of my $10 employee meal discount.
Okay, I’m done now, promise!
(adding to derail)
Back in the day, Panera used to offer many sandwiches on a bagel *with *cream cheese. Nowadays their bagels/bakery and lunch/dinner menu are completely segregated. I say, BRING BACK THE BAGEL SANDWICHES!
Speaking as the OP…feel free to give more insight. It’s not where I thought the thread would go, but it’s still interesting.
And to be fair…I thought the thread would go…off the front page as quickly as possible, because I didn’t think anyone would care about this topic.
I always get the apple…but I didn’t know about the different types of chips. I have a friend who gets the “default” chips, and never eats them. I’m going to pass this part on to him.
-D/a
Oh, okay, cool!
Ummmm, as I said, those are pretty much the choices for the sides. I tell people that they can choose between plain kettle chips and plain baked chips when asked for the chip choices. That’s all we have, flavor-wise.
I’ve only been working there since last October, but Panera is a lot better than my old job (Kroger.) Each employee has to be trained in at least three different positions. I’m usually the closing cashier. Closing is a lot of physical work but I survive. The pay isn’t much but the managers are great about working with my school schedule.
Panera is very chaotic behind the scenes because they are trying to give you cafe-style food in fast food-style quickness. They try their best considering the constraints they’re under. And if you’re ever dissatisfied with an item the crew will remake it or make something completely different, no questions asked. That is one thing that has always impressed me, even when a woman wanted them to remake the sandwich because she was too lazy to put the mustard and mayo on it herself. :rolleyes:
None of the breads are gluten free, and none of the soups are low sodium. I get that question all the time. It’s definitely all comfort food. You can manipulate the menu to get something relatively healthy out of it but the bakery items are definitely not sugar free. 
Oh, and sometimes items get cycled out. Every six weeks is a new “season,” some foods get faded out (chili, chicken stew) and some get reintegrated back into the menu (chocolate duet cookie, chicken tortilla soup) so it’s always fine to ask the cashier if a certain item is still around.
Not what happened to me. I ordered a sandwich, they handed me a beeper. Time passes. I go in, and ask “Is my order ready?” The cashier says “we’ll beep you”, Time passes. Seasons go by. The oceans rise and fall. The mountains are worn down, but then new mountains rise up out of the fundament to replace them. No sandwich. I go to the counter in back this time as the cashier is gone. I ask “Is my order ready?” The cook points at my sandwich, the one that has been sitting out there since the dawn of time. I have walked past it several times. :eek:
I complain. The cashier sez “I don’t know what happened, your beeper should have gone off”.
I email Panera. Manager emails me back. His explanation is that they got a lot of bad beepers, and that they were defective. I ask how he’s going to make me happy. He sez to take it up with the beeper company. :eek::mad::dubious:
So, I guess you’re right. No questions were asked. He didn’t even ask me if I wanted a reacharound while he was assfucking me.
That sucks. Well, I can’t vouch for all Paneras, just the one I work at. They’re big on making the customer happy and encouraging them to fill out the online survey. If you ever want to hit them, that’s where you go to do it. Hell, I even did it when I got poor service at another Panera. The one I work at will always remake stuff, you’ll get the manager when asked, etc. Last time I worked two newbies complained about the price of their sandwiches and the manager refunded them for the entire order, not just the sandwiches, at let them keep their food (of course.) They were pretty surprised but hell, for the prices we charge, I figure the company can afford it!
As for the buzzers…No clue. It was dumb of him to not comp you for anything and to blame it on the buzzers. Once in a blue moon I genuinely forget to type in the buzzer number on the order and it gets messed up, but out of the 50 buzzers I only know of one bad one. It’s the busiest Panera in southeast Michigan but we’re still able to treat the customers with respect.
Since it’s the busiest, it’s not uncommon for orders to take longer than their allotted time. A bakery order should take no more than 3 minutes, a cafe order no more than 5. But when you have a line out the door, a full drive through, and other random problems (such as last Friday when the closing dishwasher quit mid-shift) I’d say it’s a good day when half those cafe orders can make it out on time.
And as a cashier I’m supposed to try to upsell people to buy a drink with their meal, and then get the bakery item for an additional $.99. It’s annoying and a lot of questioning on my part. The store has to have at least 12% of their sales have the upgrade according to the bigwigs. :rolleyes: I do it just because there are so many regulars, I’m worried of not offering the deal to someone who actually wanted it.
And of course, it’s always possible to order ahead for pick-up for no additional charge. If you want to be guarenteed to get the loaf of bread you want, it’s best to call in for the next day or come in the morning while they’re all available- the bakers only bake a certain amount overnight and whatever is there is all they have for the next day.
Well, I think I have exhausted my Panera knowledge!