Panera Experiment

More than two years ago, Panera Bread, a European style non profit U.S. bakery chain decided to try an experimental program in a few of it's outlets. One of those chosen for the experiment is in Portland. It's the "patrons pay what they can, even if that's nothing" experiment. Here's how it works. Hungry, poor people pay less than the cost of a meal and offer to volunteer in exchange for soup, a sandwich or a salad. Customers who can afford breakfast or lunch pay for their meal and, if they're able, pay more to subsidize the needy. No questions are asked and everyone is treated equal....or so the policy claims.

When I first read of that experiment my initial reaction was that the entitlement, welfare crazed typical Americans would never pay enough to support the idea. Too many people here expect others to pay for their wants. The number of "poor' who volunteered in exchange for their free meals, for instance, is minuscule.  Well, I was right! Students from the nearby Grant High School mobbed the cafe daily, ordering multiple meals and not paying for them. Homeless people came for every meal. Yep, that's every day, as if the cafe was a soup kitchen. Residents of the neighborhood  have complained of an increase in crime and loitering because of the mobs of entitlement leering patrons. That Panera  store became a freeloaders paradise.

The money from well intentioned customers who paid for their food and drink and often paid more than would be expected, was so far below meeting costs of the outlet. Every  month of the experiment at  Panera the cafe was losing tremendous amount of money. At one point that the cafe was about to close, but that would have been an embarrassment in admitting that too many people out there are freeloaders. So in one last attempt to save the idea, the Panera staff has changed training methods. The door greeter (the "community ambassador") explains the mission of Panera with every customer who comes in. Success stories of out-of-work customers paying for their meals by volunteering now decorate the walls. New signs explains Panera's expectations. Hmmmmm I am skeptical that can change things at Panera.

More practical changes instituted include: having the Panera staff turn away anyone drunk or on drugs,  Panera meeting with the Grant school principal  about the problem and a letter was sent to parents explaining how the students were virtually ransacking the cafe every morning for the "free stuff". Panera asked the school to ban student patronage of Panera before school (when most of the students were eating there). Also,  no one (the homeless in particular) is now allowed to come every day, for every meal.

Ha! Good luck to that too. The strange Panera pay if you want to policy is doomed. When you make it an option to pay, many deadbeat types of people are going to opt not to pay. In fact, the Panera model is exactly what is wrong with the U.S. entitlement state today. The takers now far out-number the givers in this society. "Free for me" is the mantra today of way too many Americans.