Panera: A Lesson in the Failure of Socialism

[dcbl]

you mean to tell me that a company cannot survive or afford to employ people if they give stuff away?

wow, what a surprise, Bernie and his protege AOC will NOT be happy...

Panera is ending its pay-what-you-want experiment, will close last such store

quote:
There's no such thing as a free lunch anymore at Panera.

The sandwich chain will close its last pay-what-you-can location next week after determining the model wasn't sustainable. It's already shut the other free-meals cafes around the country, including locations in Chicago; Clayton, Mo.; Portland, Ore.; and Dearborn, Mich., and its Boston concept will close its doors Feb. 15 after a six-year run.

The original idea was to allow customers to give a suggested donation for their food in a bid to raise awareness about hunger across the U.S. The funds collected were supposed to cover the store's operating costs while also paying for those who couldn't afford their food.

"Despite our commitment to this mission, it's become clear that continued operation of the Boston Panera Cares is no longer viable," Panera Bread said in an emailed statement.

From Eater.com:

quote:
At its peak, Panera Cares operated five locations, including ones in Dearborn, Michigan; Portland, Oregon; Boston, and Chicago. Each restaurant was designed to sustain itself, but the restaurants weren’t financially viable. The Portland-based Panera Cares was reportedly only recouping between 60 and 70 percent of its total costs. The losses were attributed students who “mobbed” the restaurant and ate without paying, as well as homeless patrons who visited the restaurant for every meal of the week. The location eventually limited the homeless to “a few meals a week.”

 

[BlackFlag]

you mean to tell me that a company cannot survive or afford to employ people if they give stuff away?

wow, what a surprise, Bernie and his protege AOC will NOT be happy...

Panera is ending its pay-what-you-want experiment, will close last such store

quote:
There's no such thing as a free lunch anymore at Panera.

The sandwich chain will close its last pay-what-you-can location next week after determining the model wasn't sustainable. It's already shut the other free-meals cafes around the country, including locations in Chicago; Clayton, Mo.; Portland, Ore.; and Dearborn, Mich., and its Boston concept will close its doors Feb. 15 after a six-year run.

The original idea was to allow customers to give a suggested donation for their food in a bid to raise awareness about hunger across the U.S. The funds collected were supposed to cover the store's operating costs while also paying for those who couldn't afford their food.

"Despite our commitment to this mission, it's become clear that continued operation of the Boston Panera Cares is no longer viable," Panera Bread said in an emailed statement.

From Eater.com:

quote:
At its peak, Panera Cares operated five locations, including ones in Dearborn, Michigan; Portland, Oregon; Boston, and Chicago. Each restaurant was designed to sustain itself, but the restaurants weren’t financially viable. The Portland-based Panera Cares was reportedly only recouping between 60 and 70 percent of its total costs. The losses were attributed students who “mobbed” the restaurant and ate without paying, as well as homeless patrons who visited the restaurant for every meal of the week. The location eventually limited the homeless to “a few meals a week.”

^ doesn’t know what socialism is

 

[DigitalDrifter]

Yep, been reading about this. Panera is just the latest to find out that when you give people handouts, they take them.

 

[g5000]

Hmmm, a guy who started with one bread shop and built his company into a market cap of over $7 billion knows nothing about capitalism!

Panera Bread Co Market Cap (M) (PNRA)

 

[dcbl]

Hmmm, a company with a market cap of over $7 billion knows nothing about capitalism!

Panera Bread Co Market Cap (M) (PNRA)

where did I say they did not know about capitalism?

my claim is that their socialist/social justice experiment failed miserably

and it did; care to take a shot at proving me wrong

 

[Moonglow]

you mean to tell me that a company cannot survive or afford to employ people if they give stuff away?

wow, what a surprise, Bernie and his protege AOC will NOT be happy...

Panera is ending its pay-what-you-want experiment, will close last such store

quote:
There's no such thing as a free lunch anymore at Panera.

The sandwich chain will close its last pay-what-you-can location next week after determining the model wasn't sustainable. It's already shut the other free-meals cafes around the country, including locations in Chicago; Clayton, Mo.; Portland, Ore.; and Dearborn, Mich., and its Boston concept will close its doors Feb. 15 after a six-year run.

The original idea was to allow customers to give a suggested donation for their food in a bid to raise awareness about hunger across the U.S. The funds collected were supposed to cover the store's operating costs while also paying for those who couldn't afford their food.

"Despite our commitment to this mission, it's become clear that continued operation of the Boston Panera Cares is no longer viable," Panera Bread said in an emailed statement.

From Eater.com:

quote:
At its peak, Panera Cares operated five locations, including ones in Dearborn, Michigan; Portland, Oregon; Boston, and Chicago. Each restaurant was designed to sustain itself, but the restaurants weren’t financially viable. The Portland-based Panera Cares was reportedly only recouping between 60 and 70 percent of its total costs. The losses were attributed students who “mobbed” the restaurant and ate without paying, as well as homeless patrons who visited the restaurant for every meal of the week. The location eventually limited the homeless to “a few meals a week.”

And again how is this socialism since it was a private company?

 

[Moonglow]

Capitalism is not socialism yet socialism can exist in a capitalist society..

 

[Timmy]

Hmmm, a company with a market cap of over $7 billion knows nothing about capitalism!

Panera Bread Co Market Cap (M) (PNRA)

where did I say they did not know about capitalism?

my claim is that their socialist/social justice experiment failed miserably

and it did; care to take a shot at proving me wrong

It lasted six years .

 

[dcbl]

Hmmm, a company with a market cap of over $7 billion knows nothing about capitalism!

Panera Bread Co Market Cap (M) (PNRA)

where did I say they did not know about capitalism?

my claim is that their socialist/social justice experiment failed miserably

and it did; care to take a shot at proving me wrong

It lasted six years .

not bad, in comparison, it took 20 or 30 years to bring Venezuela down

 

[dcbl]

you mean to tell me that a company cannot survive or afford to employ people if they give stuff away?

wow, what a surprise, Bernie and his protege AOC will NOT be happy...

Panera is ending its pay-what-you-want experiment, will close last such store

quote:
There's no such thing as a free lunch anymore at Panera.

The sandwich chain will close its last pay-what-you-can location next week after determining the model wasn't sustainable. It's already shut the other free-meals cafes around the country, including locations in Chicago; Clayton, Mo.; Portland, Ore.; and Dearborn, Mich., and its Boston concept will close its doors Feb. 15 after a six-year run.

The original idea was to allow customers to give a suggested donation for their food in a bid to raise awareness about hunger across the U.S. The funds collected were supposed to cover the store's operating costs while also paying for those who couldn't afford their food.

"Despite our commitment to this mission, it's become clear that continued operation of the Boston Panera Cares is no longer viable," Panera Bread said in an emailed statement.

From Eater.com:

quote:
At its peak, Panera Cares operated five locations, including ones in Dearborn, Michigan; Portland, Oregon; Boston, and Chicago. Each restaurant was designed to sustain itself, but the restaurants weren’t financially viable. The Portland-based Panera Cares was reportedly only recouping between 60 and 70 percent of its total costs. The losses were attributed students who “mobbed” the restaurant and ate without paying, as well as homeless patrons who visited the restaurant for every meal of the week. The location eventually limited the homeless to “a few meals a week.”

And again how is this socialism since it was a private company?

socialist experiment

 

[Oddball]

 

[DigitalDrifter]

2t0gsb

 

[MarcATL]

where did I say they did not know about capitalism?

my claim is that their socialist/social justice experiment failed miserably

and it did; care to take a shot at proving me wrong

It lasted six years .

More importantly, most business fail w/i 5 years, and are expected to do so.

We don't know what other market forces caused this to happen.

Straight capitalism has failures non-stop, but you don't see the OP citing those as a failure of that system.

This is a miserably failed thread.

 

[Cecilie1200]

you mean to tell me that a company cannot survive or afford to employ people if they give stuff away?

wow, what a surprise, Bernie and his protege AOC will NOT be happy...

Panera is ending its pay-what-you-want experiment, will close last such store

quote:
There's no such thing as a free lunch anymore at Panera.

The sandwich chain will close its last pay-what-you-can location next week after determining the model wasn't sustainable. It's already shut the other free-meals cafes around the country, including locations in Chicago; Clayton, Mo.; Portland, Ore.; and Dearborn, Mich., and its Boston concept will close its doors Feb. 15 after a six-year run.

The original idea was to allow customers to give a suggested donation for their food in a bid to raise awareness about hunger across the U.S. The funds collected were supposed to cover the store's operating costs while also paying for those who couldn't afford their food.

"Despite our commitment to this mission, it's become clear that continued operation of the Boston Panera Cares is no longer viable," Panera Bread said in an emailed statement.

From Eater.com:

quote:
At its peak, Panera Cares operated five locations, including ones in Dearborn, Michigan; Portland, Oregon; Boston, and Chicago. Each restaurant was designed to sustain itself, but the restaurants weren’t financially viable. The Portland-based Panera Cares was reportedly only recouping between 60 and 70 percent of its total costs. The losses were attributed students who “mobbed” the restaurant and ate without paying, as well as homeless patrons who visited the restaurant for every meal of the week. The location eventually limited the homeless to “a few meals a week.”

Let me see if I have this straight. It took them SIX YEARS to figure out that giving stuff away wasn't sustainable? I could have told them that in six seconds . . . and it only would've taken that long because I needed to catch my breath after laughing at them.

 

[dcbl]

We don't know what other market forces caused this to happen.

yes we do

you can't give stuff away and stay in business

More importantly, most business fail w/i 5 years, and are expected to do so.

not Panera, they do very well when they sell a good product for a fair price

This is a failed thread.

 

[Cecilie1200]

Hmmm, a company with a market cap of over $7 billion knows nothing about capitalism!

Panera Bread Co Market Cap (M) (PNRA)

where did I say they did not know about capitalism?

my claim is that their socialist/social justice experiment failed miserably

and it did; care to take a shot at proving me wrong

It lasted six years .

Only because they were so dumb it took them six years to figure out that they weren't EVER going to stop losing money on it.

 

[g5000]

Oh my god...MOAR SOSHULISM: https://www.panerabread.com/en-us/en_us/community/community-giving.html

At the end of each day, our bakery-cafes package unsold bread and baked goods to donate to local hunger relief and charitable organizations.

 

[dcbl]

Oh my god...MOAR SOSHULISM: https://www.panerabread.com/en-us/en_us/community/community-giving.html

At the end of each day, our bakery-cafes package unsold bread and baked goods to donate to local hunger relief and charitable organizations.

so they give away the surplus at the end of the day instead of throwing it away?

good for them, LOTS of restaurants do this, but like I said, good for them

 

[emilynghiem]

you mean to tell me that a company cannot survive or afford to employ people if they give stuff away?

wow, what a surprise, Bernie and his protege AOC will NOT be happy...

Panera is ending its pay-what-you-want experiment, will close last such store

quote:
There's no such thing as a free lunch anymore at Panera.

The sandwich chain will close its last pay-what-you-can location next week after determining the model wasn't sustainable. It's already shut the other free-meals cafes around the country, including locations in Chicago; Clayton, Mo.; Portland, Ore.; and Dearborn, Mich., and its Boston concept will close its doors Feb. 15 after a six-year run.

The original idea was to allow customers to give a suggested donation for their food in a bid to raise awareness about hunger across the U.S. The funds collected were supposed to cover the store's operating costs while also paying for those who couldn't afford their food.

"Despite our commitment to this mission, it's become clear that continued operation of the Boston Panera Cares is no longer viable," Panera Bread said in an emailed statement.

From Eater.com:

quote:
At its peak, Panera Cares operated five locations, including ones in Dearborn, Michigan; Portland, Oregon; Boston, and Chicago. Each restaurant was designed to sustain itself, but the restaurants weren’t financially viable. The Portland-based Panera Cares was reportedly only recouping between 60 and 70 percent of its total costs. The losses were attributed students who “mobbed” the restaurant and ate without paying, as well as homeless patrons who visited the restaurant for every meal of the week. The location eventually limited the homeless to “a few meals a week.”

The best sustainable programs I know that work by cooperative economics
are still based on free enterprise. Examples:

Grameen Bank and Foundation for microlending and business training and planning
to help communities start and run businesses to grow their local economy
www.grameenfoundation.org

Pace Universal www.paceuniversal.com
which I hope will expand to teach more people to
build their own schools, daycares and clinics using
a similar model that Habitat for Humanity uses to pay forward

Ithaca HOURS labor backed currency for community business development
www.ithacahours.com
www.paulglover.org

I'd appoint founder Paul Glover to work with the Federal Reserve
and Treasury to help every state mint its own money against
credits held in a reserve to manage reforms, by financing
jobs and educational training against debts and damages
from govt and corporate abuses corrected by those programs.

 

[Cecilie1200]

Oh my god...MOAR SOSHULISM: https://www.panerabread.com/en-us/en_us/community/community-giving.html

At the end of each day, our bakery-cafes package unsold bread and baked goods to donate to local hunger relief and charitable organizations.

so they give away the surplus at the end of the day instead of throwing it away?

good for them, LOTS of restaurants do this, but like I said, good for them

Yes, actually. I was once part of a start-up of a new Panera that was opening. New building, new-hire employees, the whole wad. They had a week in which they ran kitchen drills to make sure everyone knew how to make everything on the menu in the allotted amount of time, how to serve it, whatever. And afterward, all the leftover food got driven over to a local homeless shelter for donation. An excellent idea all the way around, really.