Panera Bread,

2525 Capital Mall Dr SW, Olympia, WA 98502, United States

"After checking the reviews over the past year, it appears the long wait times and the dirty environment have continued into being systematic issues. At this point, filthy walkins, expired sauces and long drive thru wait times are indicative of checked out owners not spot checking their investment, a store manager failing to be a good steward of the owners investment, and subordinate managers being poorly developed and led. Panera's fastfood plus. It's comparatively "healthier" with a social image somewhere between McDonalds and Outback. It's audience have higher expectations for it than for Tacobell or Sonic. Those establishments can serve slop because it's at slop prices. Panera cannot. My impression from working at this store over a year ago is this. The owners are in their golden years and checked out. The current store manager runs it well enough to survive but far below it's potential. She despised having a drive thru and it shows. Leaving the store run by a glorified front-end manager. The culture is free roaming. There is very little direct command and accountability within the store, kitchens or shifts. I recall one manager telling me "If they don't listen, they don't listen, nothing I can do" in regards to an hourly employee. It's an odd highschool-like environment with adult managers roleplaying as the cool kids. Very odd and inconsistent. It also makes every day tasks way more difficult than it needs to be and the quality suffers because of it. Flip through the recent reviews and see for yourself. In the entire time I worked there, the departments which had their head screwed on right, was catering and bakery. Mostly because catering was empowered/owned by an intelligent hard working individual and bakery was owned an actual passionate baker. While the Front-End and Drive Thru departments, more diverse general task departments, had ghost managers and lord of the flies leadership structures. A real shame."

"Went Friday at 6pm. Paid $45 for 2 pick 2 meals and my sandwich was all soggy and wet and the warm grain bowl was filled with so many cherry tomatoes that there was hardly room for the rest of ingredients. Four bites worth! Waste of money The customer service was terrible too."

"Either the store was understaffed, or the employees just don't care. There was no brewed coffee available. The bread slices for my sandwich were way too thick for the skimpy sandwich ingredients, I felt like I ate a bread sandwich. Tables were not bussed and cleaned in the dining room. We cleaned our own table before we sat down to eat. The atmosphere is somewhat noisy."

"I love Panera Bread, but this location seems to be short-staffed. Service is super slow, and front people are constantly overwhelmed. I go there regularly, and the food is always good. I had to dumb my lattes three times because of hair, so they might want to do something about it."

"Recommended for grabbing a quick meal. Tried their soup and sandwich combo. The soup was delicious and the sandwich tasted good too. But felt that the quantity and price ratio might not be good enough. Other than that, they have both indoor and outdoor seating accommodation and ample parking spaces. I got free chips with my order and it was amazing."