The fast-casual restaurant chain has opened its first location to feature its next-gen design in Ballwin, just outside of its hometown of St. Louis.
The newly-revealed restaurant features an updated dine-in experience that is centred around the brand’s signature fireplace and brings together enhance digital, personalised options, dual drive-thru access and a new brand identity.
In a move that will fully immerse the customer in the experience of baking, the new restaurant displays Panera’s ovens prominently. Furthermore, the new concept features a double-lane drive thru with one lane specifically for the brand’s pickup service. A number of digital innovations drive the restaurant including contactless dine-in and delivery, updated ordering kiosks, automatic loyalty identification, and a fully digitised menu.
“We undertook the development of the next generation Panera bakery-cafe with a relentless focus on guest experience,” said Rob Sopkin, Senior VP, Chief Development Officer, Panera Bread. “Every step of the guest journey was scrutinized to find ways to make it more intuitive and convenient, and the result represents the very best of our design and development teams.”
