Panera Bread review: unsanitary/disgusting/unhealthy 45

I ate at Panera in Jacksonville FL on Atlantic Blvd tonight, got vegetable soup and within two hours my stomach was churning and making horrible noises, terrible painful gas, and now diarrhea.

The Panera at Park and Preston is unsanitary. People who eat there and the employees pile up all the dirty dishes right out in the open and they sit there and sit there with old food crusting on the plates. Disgusting. The tables are bussed by workers when people don't clear their own dishes and they bring them to the same "dumping ground". Those employees who buss the dirty dishes then bring customers their food - passing all the germs from the dirty dishes to the clean plates with new food. Gross. It seems the bagette bread is now made out of paper. I can't think of any other way to describe it. It's dry, tough, tasteless and doesn't even look real. How about stop giving freebies so you can afford a decent bread. I often wet napkins and wipe off my own table - even after I've included a tip. The broccoli cheddar soup is inconsistent - last time so watery - sometimes has chunks of thickener that has not dissolved. What the heck? Not sure why I go here...but I may not anymore.

Yes i see misleading things in Uniontown Pennsylvania the same way I watched one time a young lady take strawberries right out of the flat that they came in cut them in half and put it in the container to be served and later date without even washing the pesticides herbicides and insecticides off now just not trained right most of them just don't care anymore this is from our public communist School System created

The Panera I work for in Columbus, Ohio is also lacking in food edicit and it’s sorta hard to wrap my brain around how they keep the soups for several days and they make you squeeze the soup out of the bags and keep the bags in a bucket til the end of the shift and they squeeze it more for more product they can not throw anything away it seems because they are worried about food costs it’s not good. They scrape every tiny morsel of everything regardless of if it looks okay or not. The mayo and some other condiments look rather vile. They keep meat out on the counter for a very long time before they slide it back into place like oh well we are supposed to throw it out but the food costs, and they have dropped to go containers for salads on the floor and picked them up and put them above the salad bar like it was okay, they keep the whole place in the back a complete wreck on a daily basis hardly clean up after themselves either.
I work here I however do not eat anything from Panera anymore as I use to do beforehand and thought Panera was going to be a decent place for what it’s worth the bread is great it’s a great company to work for the company itself that is,
and also the pastries and cookies are always great and fresh everyday.

I ate there yesterday and got sick last night, vomiting and diarrhea Mabe now I know why

I agree you cannot judge a whole company on their franchises. However I just applied for a position at Panera. Let me say I am a senior citizen and am just looking for something part time for a little extra money. I worked in a Corp. job for over 30 years.
When I went to apply and found out the pay (11/hr) I was kind of shocked because people complain about Walmart and Walmart pays more. OK .Two interviews...I am not applying for the CEO job. OK Question: Are you good at multitasking? My thought: you mean can I pour coffee and butter a muffin at the same time? My real answer: Sure. Question: Are you OK with cleaning the rest rooms? My thought: this must be a trick question. My real answer: did you just say the employees clean the restrooms? answer: yes on a rotating schedule everyone takes a turn even me and I am an assistant manager. Me: you know that Panera Bread is a multi million dollar business right? And even if you own a franchise you still have to adherer to Corp. policy? Answer: Of course. Me: OK then I am going to contact Corp headquarters and see if the employees clean the restrooms there. I'll get back to you about the job. So the next time they say clean eating you know what they mean!

Your store in downtown HTFD CT on Main st is a wonderful addition to our city.I go there every morning @6am.It is ridiculously cold in there all the time.The employees socialize loudly, with one another in a very unprofessional manner.It's obnoxious!Please correct! James Robacker [protected]

I definitely agree with both party's. I was training at a store much like the one many of you complained about, their sanitation was awful and management was terrible beyond believe, not to mention unfriendly employees/ co-workers. But like those of you who stay loyal to Panera I believe this is only an issue in certain stores. The Panera I work at now is amazing, they are very clean and value their customers. I love Panera, though I do believe some stores do need to clean up their act.

@panera guy. How is it that you have worked for mother bread for 5 years and your still an associate? you havent made it to shift leader or even been offered the postion for training?

I work at a Panera and one front line girl was cleaning under the stations and found dropped food that no one bothered to pick up. And I started finding coffee and Tea spills under there bars and into our Splenda box and other boxes. I told my one of mg and he said he would tell the night cleaner, but it still happens and it is not clean. I know the coffee gets into the boxes because the trash can is next to them and if the dinner does not put it back just right than the coffee from the coffee cups can spill from the trash. But the only way the Tea can be spilled is if someone makes to much or makes a big mess with it and the dinner does not clean it. I do not know how they could not see it, Iam always cleaning up after someone. There is dried sugar particles under everything. I try to clean up the messes in the cabinets when I close and in the day but I don't always have the time. And because I see the mess again after I cleaned it up the night beforee I know the dinner beforee me and/or the night cleaner is not doing there job and the sad part is if I do dinning in the morning (I start at 10 or 10:30) the mg are the ones responsible before me so guess who is not doing there job?

What it comes down to is no one caring or taking pride in there job.

I also work at panera and I have to say I strongly agree with you. I certainly don't love this job but this company is very strict on keeping a clean and sanitary environment. I have worked for several restaurants and panera is by far the cleanest. And also you should probably just not eat food outside of your home of your really that concerned with crumbs on the floor. Because I can assure you that you don't even want to know what happens in other restaurants. Yeah, defiantly just a bitter employee.

I've worked at my Panera Bread for 4 years and all Panera's are not like your. Obviously your panera is not keeping up with codes because these things that happen at Panera that you speak of NEVER happen at my panera. Obviously you and your other co-workers are breaking one of the panera "rules" by taking short cuts. Like not cleaning and date dots. And there is a system to preserving soup for the night that if you get a stomach after eating the soup at your store you are OBVIOUSLY doing it wrong. You cannot group all Panera's together because of your disgusting store. Maybe you all should just be fired and hired a new staff that does the work that they are suppose to!

Why does it seem that some of the people that have had some level of success with 5 Linx seem so arrogant? It's great that you have decided to sell a crappy product to some "get wit" who actually bought it from you. That lets me know that you are definitely a great sales person. Kudos to you :)

Is this supposed to offend me and make me cry?

No my name is Brenda.

My name is Brenda and I fail at trolling.I'm told to try my hand at toilet bowl cleaning and I bet I would shine there.Yay me!

Then hire adults who actually need the damn job!

Baked potato and clam are cream based - we run them out them the next day if any is leftover. Impossible to serve if 2 weeks old. Are you serious? An associate or manager wouldn't question that? Mold/mildew would grow in the iced tea/coffee, not maggots. Maggots grow from dead animals. If a baguette or miche falls on the floor in the BOH anybody who's anybody would pick it up and use it. If you think that's gross than you obviously have never worked in food service. Imagine if McDonalds drops your burger patty on the floor?You better believe they are using that patty...Who's gonna find out? Be real here. Again the prep station you say has maggots. Food is left for months? This is not true. 3-5 days is the max on half the products in the store. Salad dressings may last 14-21 days. Why are you bad mouthing this company so much?!? Did you get fired? Do yourself a favor person who "worked" at Panera...go get your GED and get a f***ing job at a bank. f*** anyone who agrees with this ### since you probably judge food service workers as stupid people who you think your better than. The management does not suck!It's the lazy f***ing kids we hire who suck.

Yeah, soups a month later- not possible. Soups rotate daily and find themselves back on the menu everyother day. A cream soup like the tomatoe, baked potato or cream of chicken and wild rice must be served the next day as the holding time is 24hrs. They are given an ice bath, must reach under 70degrees within two hrs and 40 degrees within 6. All other soups have a exp. date of 48hrs. It nearly impossible to screw that up with the amount of soup sold at each store. You'd have to put bags in the thermalizer, pull them out and just stick them in the fridge for fun. There's not enouph space to even create that much over prep. as you describe. Day dots at panera are a joke though. It's not to say product is expired, but knowone follows day dots to the T. When audits arise managers simply comb the store and stage a level 3. Those of you who work their know what I'm talking about. Panera unethically holds expectations (often confused with the term standards) of which they do not account for. No place on the face of this earth rapes the operators more than Panera when it comes to labor. There standards reek of bad upper management. The worst is that promoter score. Straight up garbage, recycled trash. Anyway, some markets have excellent top notch best in the biz managers...some suck. Panera in general- little good with a lot of suck. Bad to work for, horrible to manage. They're at the top of there game and haven't experienced the decent yet. Don't worry, it's coming. Maybe not today or tommorow but its ###ing coming.

I work at Panera in Davenport, IA and it's true about the soups we do take the left overs and reuse them but not when there over a day old? I know at the Panera I work at and the other location in Davenport is VERY clean, and we clean the tea and coffee brewers every night! My boyfriend works at McDonald's and THEY are the ones with ### roaches everywhere! It sucks working at Panera but it's a clean resturant and I've never seen maggots or anything even close to that in my store.

Re: Ph2009

You clearly do not work at Panera, or you don't know what's going on. GMs dont have to change their 'time card', they are not paid by the hour. They are salaried managers.

I like their food but their management in Wichita, Kansas sucks! My son, a local high school student and a US Army Reservist, was fired from his job at the Maize Rd branch of Panera Bread because he was unable to work a shift due to his military service. I even spoke with the manager, William, who confirmed the reason and then became very rude and yelled at me over the phone. He even said he didn’t care about the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. How fair is that? So much for supporting our military service members!

I like their food but their managment in Wichita, Kansas sucks! My sone wis a local high school student adn a US Army Reservist, was fired from his job at the Maize Rd branch of Panera Bread because he was unable to work a shift due to his military service. I even spoke with the manager, William, who confirmed hhe reason and then became very rude and yelled at me over the phone. He even said he didnt care about the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. How fair its that? So much for supporting our military service members!

Both myself and a friend ate soup at panera yesterday, being the chicken tortilla, and hours later we were both sick as a dog. We have very different schedules, and rarely eat the same foods on the same day. I am 100% sure that panera gave me food poisoning. I am infuriated that a place could ever serve spoiled soups. We both ate the same kind of soup, from different locations around the same approximate time, and met up later that night to do nothing but reel in pain. I am calling the board of health this afternoon. After getting sick, and now reading blogs all day in bed, I am even more angry. This is apparently a wide spread problem. I am deciding on whether or not to call a lawyer. The places we ate at were in the 45011 area code. Do yourself a favor and do not eat panera.

PaneraGuy here again, everyone listen to Romaunts, he is saying the same thing I have been. It varies from restaurant to restaurant, however I will say it again, the difference between Panera and other restaurants are the COMPANY AS A WHOLE, really does care, we are even the first to adhere to new laws, we are one of the very first chains to post the calorie counts etc. on our boards before the new law is even official. Also Ron Shiach former President of Panera Bread(he stepped himself down to work in a position he would like better) is opening locations called Saint Louis bread companies, where you pay what you can for the food you order, and donate what you would like whenever you like, a new type of restaurant in my opinion. I will not go to into detail about it, all I am saying is please do not judge a restaurant chain based on a single location or a single story from a single associate even when such as myself, research the company and get to know it if you really care that much, and voice your opinion where it matters because you may find out your opinion was too harshly placed. All restaurants and every restaurant chain has had their unsanity moments its really pretty much unavoidable, its what they do as a whole to prevent those moments, and how to correct them once they arrive and are made aware of them, that counts. Panera Bread rules, peace, amen, any rebuttles?

This is your location. I work at a Panera Bread- everything we do is in full view of the customers. They see us make the food, the drinks, grab the pastries and breads, everything, so there is no chance for a slip, spitting, dropping, or anything else. We're extremely clean.
We're required to wash our hands after everything we do, even if we had gloves on. We have to change our gloves after every task, and we wear gloves or use bakery tissues for everything.
Our Chai and Frappe mix containers are washed every night, and are very clean.
Our managers are meticulous about cleaning throughout the day, and at closing. We're constantly sweeping, wiping down, sanitizing, etc. All surfaces, pagers, tables, floors, and so on are sanitized many times during the day, and thoroughly cleaned and sanitized nightly.
Tables have to cleared of trash, first, then be sprayed with sanitizing solution, then wiped down- including the edges, the cleaning clothes are frequently switched to fresh ones, and seats are wiped down with a separate cloth. We don't have booth cushions, so that's non-issue.
They're not only strict about not smoking inside, but we cannot smoke anywhere near the Panera building, even within legal 'be this far' limits, and we have to take off our hats and nametags, so we cannot be identified as Panera employees- and our GM himself smokes, but won't let it slide, because he thinks it makes us look tacky.
And I've never seen anyone not rinse the dishes before putting them through. And, if the dishes aren't absolutely clean, they have to go through again because, even if they're sanitized, we won't use dishes that little even a bit dirty.
We do not reuse any product, besides the soups which are properly cooled and places in the walk-in cooler, which is perfectly acceptable by food-safety standards, and the soups are reused the very next day.
They're very strict about the temps of the food, and the dates that we're allowed to have each items. We get in a lot of trouble for not using our day dots, even for a product that consistently gets used within two hours of opening (namely, the yogurt used for smoothies and parfaits).
Our managers are constantly checking everything, while helping out the associates to get their job done. We do have one young shift manager, being only 19, but she's efficient and does her job.

We're a very clean restaurant, and very strict about cleanliness and food safety. And the Panera at which I was trained was the same way.

It varies. With most restaurants, it varies.

If anyone is interested, we're in the West Virgina/Kentucky area.

I CAN ONLY ONLY SPEAK ABOUT ILLINOIS DEPT OF PUBLIC HEALTH RULES REGARDING
COOLING, REFRIGERATION AND RE WARMING OF SOUPS. NOT EXACT TIMES IN MY BRAIN... BUT APPROX. BECAUSE I DONT HAVE MY BOOK IN FRONT OF ME.
SOUPS AND FOOD IN GENERAL MUST BE COOLED AT A CERTAIN RATE AND TEMP, AND MAY BE REFRIGERATED AND REWARMED IN PROPER TEMPS /AND METHODS AND TIMES, ONLY ONCE.

NOW, AS FAR AS CLEANING IS CONCERNED AT THE FEW PANERAS I HAVE BEEN AT... THEIR CLEANING AND SANITIZING SUCKS.

CLEANING MULTIPLE TABLETOPS BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK, IS WRONG, AND THROW IN A DIRTY BOOTH SEAT CUSHION AND A TRASH CAN TOP AND DRINK STATION, THEN, GOING AND WIPING MORE TABLES IS TOTALLY WRONG.
I HAVE WITNESSED THIS 2 TIMES AT THE SAME STORE AND HAVE COMPLAINED BOTH TIMES. ITS LIKE ITS FALLING ON DEAF EARS.

I THINK PANERA OPERATES LIKE ALL OTHER FOOD CHAINS... FOOD COST VERSUS CLEAN AND SANITARY CONDITIONS.
CUT STAFF TO SAVE A BUCK, AND NOTHING GETS CLEANED.

Why don't you call corporate or the health department? You are just as liable as anyone else in your store for seeing this go on and not doing anything about it. Get off the internet and pick up the phone to call the authorities.

I have been an associate of Panera Bread for five years now, I think everything for all restaurants vary from restaurant to restaurant. In my area let me tell you what I have experienced.

At Taco Bell-They have mismade my orders more time than there are days in the year, there was actually this one time I was at a Taco Bell in my area where they could not find the gloves for thirty minutes, I actually stuck around just to see how long it would take them. Then I left.

McDonalds- Yeah I saw associates throwing eggs at the cieling...ew... Also where I used to live it was commonly known to not buy the onion rings or shakes, they hated making them and loved spitting in them ^-^

Long John Silvers- Knew an associate there who said they served anything past their prime within reason, even though no one under management thought it was reasonable. -.-

So now, let me compare the Panera Bread I work at to all the other guys I have listed here, in fact I will compare my Panera Bread to all the other restaurants in my area including the ones above and the ones I have not listed.

We have gloves on hand at every single working station, Barista, Coffee, Sandwhich, Salad, Bakery, Bakers table, Prep Station, and any other station you can think of.

Additionally we have tissues in bakery to grab food with.

Our up front sink which is used the most has a hot water only option, as this is the best way to lather soap and help kill bacteria. Also let me mention this sink is in full view of the public, you can actively see associates wash their hands all the time.

We have a mega-long cleaning list broken up and assigned to different associates, it is adhered to pretty regularly.

Our Panera, as every Panera is supposed to, has three line checks a day, where a Panera Manager actively investigates the line where we store/make food, this includes the soup, making sure all leftovers are served/discarded when past prime. The Line check includes proper dating, throwing out anything old, proper holding/heating temperatures, and all are recorded.

Really, Panera I think is overall the best, safest, easiest, most caring place you can eat it, I highly recommend the ones around the Michigan area, as I know associates/managers from over ten of them now, and I can assure you they all do their best to run their stores the same way, Panera the company goes through an awful lot of trouble to keep their stores in tip top shape. Especially as far as quality and cleanliness goes, so if you are reading this and this does not reflect your Panera, I suggest you drop a friendly notice by your Panera managers, especially at your seasonal meeting(Bread Bash) so that your Panera can take positive steps to appropriately handle the situations you find, as a team.

I am not saying we at Panera are perfect, however the difference between US and THEM is that we do genuinely care, and we try to be.

I'm a new associate with the company and while I was trained at one location and work at the newest in my area now, I have never witnessed anything even close to these conditions. All soups in both locations are always iced to bring down to temp in water at the end of the night, once they are cooled down they are put in the cooler, NOT the freezer. Being that my location is new and full of mostly new associates, we still have some issues with our day dotting system but when we do, things are dealt with accordingly. The product is usually tossed at this point. Sure some shortcuts are taken, but in terms of quality? Never. Even if the item has expired by the company standard, none of the managers at either location hesitates to toss something if it looks bad. Panera may be a joke at your location, but that doesn't mean that all locations carry out these same sort of shenanigans. If you truly see all theses issues, DO something about it.

First of all A health inspector would close a Panera down if it were in that condition. Second, Black bean is not a cream based soup. I have worked in a few panera's over a few years and I have never witnessed anything like you say. If its so bad why do you go to work there. Obviously you are comfortable in the enviroment. What does that say about you? You have worked there a more than a year! HMMMM...Get a life!

I'm sorry to those who disagree to the original post but contrary to what you think ALL restaurants, including Panera, slack on their responsibilities. I blame this partly because of all the 'children' they have operating the store. Yes, I am currently a Panera Bread associate and we have four managers all under the age of 21. And while age should not be an issue, the maturity among these managers speaks for themselves.

For those disagreeing with the original post that do not actually work there, I'm sorry but you have NO idea!

For those that seem to work at clean stores, there is still so much that goes on that is unrelated to sanitary food issues. And this stuff does not end at associates and shift managers. My own GM was caught manually changing his time card. Managers have stolen all sorts of paper products, cups, etc. for themselves. (I've seen many Panera cups used for beer pong at parties). Andyyeayea: Tell me this, how many times during your shift do you wash your hands or change your apron? Our store is fairly clean as well but I have witnessed many of our high school employees and yes, young managers doing their jobs half-assed. (Smoking inside after close, not rinsing ANYTHING before putting in the dishwasher, thawing frozen meat by leaving it in hot water, etc.) Trainers even train the new employees how to do it half-assed!

Panera is a joke of a company. Since I started in 2007, the company has gotten cheaper and stingyer and managers have gotten younger and lazier. Disgruntled employee? Maybe, but in one post I read, Panera does nothing with your complaints and may even suspend YOU for your opinions.

Just beware if you eat at Panera. That's all.

I also work at panera bread in florida and everything you said is so true I don't believe I could have said it any better myself. We have even had an employee SPIT in someones food, whoever saw it told management and they have done nothing they thought it was the funniest thing ever. When you go out to eat at Panera Bread you assume that you are eating good and healthy food, but you were very wrong.. It's disquisting what they do and don't do. That would probably be why our store can't pass a corporate audit to save their lives.. Think twice before you want to come in to a Panera Bread location, you would probably be better off eating something out of a dumpster.

I ate there one time and liked the fresh orange juice, got a sandwich I think it was decent, kind of yuppie for me and overpriced though.

So why haven't YOU called the health department? You can take time to post a message on the internet but you can't be bothered to call the health department? HAHAHAHA another unhappy employee with a grudge strikes the net

These comments are based on 1 store and how they operate. The Panera stores that I go to in Minnesota are among the cleanliest eateries I have visitied and my company orders thousands of meals from them per year. To my knowledge, nobody has been sick and everyone loves the quality of the food.