Vantaggi
The people were the best part. Everyone acts like a big family. The job itself is not too difficult and there is always something to do, whether it's prepping, cleaning, serving customers, or making food. The store management was always helpful and flexible and tried their best to make their team happy.
Svantaggi
The corporate standards are exacting to an almost impossible degree. The mandate that food needs to be prepared and served in under 3 minutes creates an incredibly stressful atmosphere, especially since Panera prides itself on having good quality "fast" food. The company's focus on customer reviews also created a lot of stress and tension for my cafe. It was clear to me that everyone in the cafe was doing their best every day to give customers a good experience, but you can't please everyone, especially when your cafe is one of the busiest around. I wish that upper management didn't breathe down our managers's necks because it created a tense and stressful atmosphere for everyone and impacted team morale. Also, there was little room for salary advancement in my cafe because upper management had put a a freeze on raises.