Posted on 01/13/2011 10:59:39 PM PST by smokingfrog
FULL TITLE: Northeast Portland Panera Bread to close at end of day, reopen Sunday as third 'pay-as-you-can' nonprofit cafe in nation.
The Hollywood Panera Bread in Northeast Portland will open Sunday as the company's third "pay-as-you-can" nonprofit cafe in the nation, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.
Today is the last day the 4143 Halsey Street restaurant will be run by the for-profit arm of the company. The cafe will close at the end of business this evening and remain closed through Saturday as the staff is retrained and the interior refigured for the new system, said Panera spokeswoman Kate Antonacci.
When the cafe reopens Jan. 16, it will be run by the non-profit Panera Bread Foundation and will be renamed a "Panera Cares Community Cafe." The new restaurant will not feature menu prices or cash registers but "suggested" donation prices and donation bins instead.
"One of the goals of the program is to make sure that everyone who needs a meal gets one," the restaurant said in a release last fall when it announced that one of Portland's six Panera's would be the next nonprofit cafe. "People are encouraged to take what they need and donate their fair share."
(Excerpt) Read more at oregonlive.com ...
I don’t know if the menu is going to be the same, but the sandwiches at the traditional retail outlets are really good! Very fresh meat and bread, real lettuce, not that iceberg crap, etc.
Panera bread has free internet. This place will be mobbed by the “creative types” Portland is known for. Portland used to have money due to the logging industry. But the “creative types” decimated that via environmental regulations. Now just the fact that Portland is young hip and creative makes Portland a great place to live (/sarcasm)
Another liberal experiment you know won’t end well. I give it 6 months and it will close.
Why did I ever imagine that putting out free seed was a good idea?
If they did this in Detroit, the company would go under in one month. Then the “customers” would complain.
The bathrooms in that place are going to be absolutely disgusting within 10 days.
I hate when that happens. Wear a cup.
“According to the foundation, 60 to 70 percent of the customers at the first two cafes pay in full. Another 15 percent pay more, and 15 percent less or nothing.”
Sounds like the system works well except for the deadbeats that pay less or nothing.
Actually, it works out because some pay extra. Looks like they’ll end up making slightly less than retail. Course a lot may depend on where you site the place. Some locations, you’d get 10% payers, 5% paying extra, and 85% paying nothing.
Read the article. They have done this is Detroit and it has been successful.
That’s wonderful!
Does that mean we can now cut back on the food stamps?
My former nieghbors fed the birds. Our end of the street had gopher-sized squirrels.
Back in the 70’s when you went to oregon you’d see signs saying “Don’t Californicate Oregon!” Apparently the warnings didn’t work.
Here’s another example from the same newspaper that the Panera article appeared.
http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/01/gov_john_kitzhaber_calls_first.html#incart_hbx
Oregon seems to be blessed with a governor that’s as economically gifted as Obama.
The article doesn't say that.
The first two have been open less than a year, and at best they are breaking even. As overhead goes up due to increased security/maintenence, and after the first full-paying customer is assaulted by a bum, the newness will wear off and they will run out of idealistic fools to pay.
Liberals always think they can repeal the laws of human nature and they always fail.
Since it’s a non-profit, I wonder if they have people that volunteer to work there?
No way it will last! No way!
possibly of interest to your ping list
Any Oregon freepers know exactly where this place is?
“Make your predictions on how long it will last.”
Don’t underestimate the guilt level of liberals.
I think this is more of a marketing stunt on the part of Panera than a genuine philanthropic effort, or a belief that it’s a viable business model.
If they really thought it was a successful model, why do they only have three “pay as you can” stores out of 1362?
Simple - since they cater to the lefty crowd (especially in Portland), it’s great PR to feed the homeless and it gives the liberals a way to relieve their guilt pangs by patronizing Panera. It’s the “progressive” version of buying indulgences, with Panera playing the role of the old Catholic Church.
So I think those three “pay as you can” stores will hang in there for a lot longer than most of us freepers would expect, because they bring in more “progressives” paying for their indulgences in the “pay before you eat” Panera stores, and thus relieving themselves of humanities sins. But don’t expect Panera to open too many other such stores. They’ll open new ones only if they cannot milk any more PR from the ones already open.
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