Panera Bread succeeds by creating faux-"third places" in the suburbs

In the absence of true public spaces and third places in modern suburbs, Panera Bread finds an opportunity. Bring your laptop.

Mention Panera Bread and fans are as likely to praise the free Wi-Fi as they are to gush about the Asiago cheese bagels. And that, execs at the $2.6 billion restaurant chain say, is the point. While its competitors scale back on upscale ingredients, trim portion sizes, and create value menus, Panera is selling fresh food and warm bread at full price, and encouraging customers to linger. That recipe is succeeding.

Read the rest at: Rising Dough: Why Panera Bread Is on a Roll | Fast Company.

Comments

[Cavan]

They also create decent third places in walkable urban settings, too. We have one in Silver Spring, MD (a legacy walkable urban streetcar suburb on the Washington, DC border) and it works like an urban cafe.

[joshuadf]

We have some retired friends who keep a list of Panera locations and meet friends and family across the country while traveling.