Panera Bread has announced the opening of an updated store format in New York City, the newest of several changes targeted at more densely populated and non-traditional areas. With digital sales at Panera now representing 50 percent of total sales, Panera is beginning to offer stores designed to cater to the needs of digital and off-premise guests.
“At Panera, our innovation has always been rooted in the guest and associate experience, how we can reduce friction, drive convenience and bring Panera to new places where we know the demand is high for the freshly-prepared food we serve,” said Eduardo Luz, chief brand and concept officer at Panera, in a statement. “With a flexible portfolio of cafe designs, we’re now able to bring Panera anywhere, from suburban cafes with double drive-thrus, to a digital-only Panera To Go and everything in between.”
The new urban format modifies a retail footprint space 40 percent smaller than traditional restaurants with updated ordering kiosks, a fully digitized menu, and a new tracking screen providing more detailed order status. Designed with only limited counter seating, the store is focused on the pickup experience, with dedicated shelves for pick-up and to-go orders. It is also the first Panera bakery-cafe in the country to fully incorporate the updated Panera branding style.
Additionally, the company will open a Panera To Go in NYC next month which offers the infrastructure to support pickup and delivery orders. The two New York locations are the first of several planned for urban expansion in the next year.
To enhance the guest and associate experience, the company has leveraged technology to improve contactless-dine-in options, support the digitization of the order status board, and personalize reorder and recommendation functions in the app. Future iterations of the new urban format plan to test new tap-and-go technology.
For associates, Panera continues to test AI capabilities. Earlier this year, it began testing Miso Robotics’ automated coffee brewing system as it rolled out its Unlimited Sip Club subscription program. More recently, the company began piloting OpenCity’s voice AI ordering technology, called “Tori,” for drive-thru orders, with the goal of maximizing efficiency and increasing order speed.
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