[MNlurker]

Guess that’s one way to do their pay what you can deal in some of their places...

[Last Dakotan]

The place is nothing but portion control. I feel every time I eat there I am getting nickle and dimed, now this.

[phormer phrog phlyer]

Works good at Sheets and WaWa.

[Zathras]

This is a CEO who thinks.
My complaint against Panera was service was WAY too slow.
Hope its not too late.

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

It’s the wave of the future. Obama and his commie cabal can raise the minimum wage until all of the low-skill jobs will be done via technology.

[Roman_War_Criminal]

CEO says this....
“The dirty little secret in the food industry is one in seven orders is wrong”

That’s funny...About a year ago Panera messed my order up twice before FINALLY getting it right.

[jttpwalsh]

Next time I visit Seattle to visit family, the $15/hr minimum wage will have been imposed. I expect to see a lot of these kiosks, in place of folks that made the old minimum wage.

[wbill]

Yep....

Fast Food places don't WANT to pay $15/hr for a button pusher. This is the first shot back at the "Living wage" idiots.

$15/hr sounds about right for a 1st level tech to keep kiosks maintained at a handful of stores.

[Vince Ferrer]

Yes, they probably will cut back on workers, but they won’t announce it.

[LostInBayport]

Shaich told Businessweek that it won't be cutting back on workers. The former cashiers will now carry food to customers' tables until Panera is satisfied with the implementation of the kiosks and the media buzz dies down. Then staffs at each location will lose a couple of employees.

[for-q-clinton]

How’s that minimum wage working out now?

[Wuli]

minimum wage laws strike again, sending additional signals to another industry to find ways to substitute humans with machines, helping to further the advance in the proportions of the bottom and the top with more hollowing out of the middle

[Alex Murphy]

Panera Bread is going to start using kiosks to input customer orders. The fast-casual chain will start adding about eight kiosks per restaurant, writes Venessa Wong at Bloomberg Businessweek. Customers will also be able to order by phone. As a result, there will be one to two fewer cashiers in restaurants.

"They say that Howard orders tons of sandwiches that no one picks up....guys, we're not all Howard."

[informavoracious]

The cashiers that are now servers can be paid less than minimum wage. Tips, of course...

[dfwgator]

"Enjoy your extra *BIG ASS FRIES*"

[Political Junkie Too]

The law of unintended consequences will be that the orders will come in faster than the service line can make them. That will leave customers with the impression that they are waiting too long for their food.

Say what you will about cashiers, they do pace the orders coming into the kitchen, and customers won't count the time waiting on line against the kitchen staff.

-PJ

[SES1066]

Shaich told Businessweek that it won't be cutting back on workers.

Accurate but perhaps somewhat misleading. While it will reduce bad orders and thus lower overhead, it also means not having to hire more people / cashiers in future while seeing how well technology can work in this area. Also they may not be reducing workers NOW but that does not mean it won't happen in the future.