Fine Dining - Panera Bread: Infinite Refills, Caffeinated Chaos, and Chicken Controversies

Episode Date: April 2, 2025

🚨 Panera Bread: Infinite Refills, Chicken Fights & Lemonade Lawsuits 🚨 From a humble Missouri bakery to one of the most recognizable fast-casual chains in the country, Panera Bread has been on a wild ride. This week, I dive deep into the breadbasket of chaos that is Panera’s history — including aggressive ad campaigns, billion-dollar innovations, and a beverage scandal that stirred national headlines. Plus, I’m joined by Lyss Johnson — comedian and former Panera employee — to break down what it’s really like behind the counter at America’s favorite soup & salad spot. Was Panera ever really the cozy bread haven we remember? Or has it always been a little bit soup, a little bit shady? 🥖 The $150,000 Loan That Became a $7 Billion Bread Empire 🐔 How Panera's "EZ Chicken" Campaign Offended Farmers Nationwide 📲 The Rise of Panera 2.0 and the iPad-ification of Soup 🍋 Charged Lemonade Controversy – What Actually Happened? 🥤 Unlimited Sip Club: The Most Underrated Beverage Subscription Ever? 🥗 Why Panera’s Vibe Has Changed (and Who It’s Really For Now) 💰 Rising Prices, Declining Quality – Can Panera Still Deliver? 🧓 Lyss Johnson’s Shocking (and Bird-Filled) Walks Home from Panera 💬 COMMENT BELOW: Do you still love Panera? Or is it just overpriced soup in a bread bowl? 📢 SUPPORT THE SHOW & JOIN THE COMMUNITY: 🔥 Patreon (Bonus reviews & exclusive content!): https://www.patreon.com/c/finediningpodcast 💬 Discord (Chat chains & share horror stories!): https://discord.gg/6a2YqrtWV4 🎥 Watch full episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FineDiningPodcast 🔗 All links: www.linktree.com/finediningpodcast ⚡ Like, Subscribe & Share if you love deep dives into fast-casual chaos! Patreon Producers: Sue Ornelas & Joyce Van 👉 NEXT WEEK: We’re reviewing Panera Bread in real time — and it’s not the Panera you remember. Stay tuned. 🥣

Panera Bread. From a revolutionary beverage subscription service to a lemonade that has claimed lives, this bread-centric fast casual chain has been on quite the journey. Panera Bread is consistently in the top 20 quick service restaurant chains in the nation, and it's with good reason. This alternative to greasy heavy meals chose to hang its hat on the still heavy but way less greasy concept of bread. As an American, I love bread and you do too. And while pumping it directly into my veins is, to quote my general physician, really f***ing stupid, don't even try, hollowing it out and dumping soup inside of it seemed

like a solid consolation prize. Perhaps Panera didn't invent the bread bowl, but they certainly popularized the concept on a national scale. This delicious offering helped Panera grow to the sprawling empire we see today with over 2,000 locations in the United States. For those of us who are fortunate enough to tolerate gluten, Panera bread is the most convenient stuff for soups, salads, sandwiches, and pastries. This week on the show, I'll slop my knowledge soup

into your eager sourdough so that you too can become an expert on all things Panera Bread. Then we'll turn our attention to Yelp to see what the world is saying about the Panera we went to. Stay tuned. This is the Fine Dining Podcast. Fine dining, better than you thought, worse than you hoped. Fine dining, we don't treat mediocre as a joke. Breaking every single place we've been, looking for the perfect five out of ten.

I'm excited to see what the public thinks in contrast to our experience. I, yeah, I don't know. The perception of Panera Bread is always something that I've seen like go up and down. It's like a weird stock that I'm following. What do people think about Panera Bread? And what do you have invested in it? Hello, and welcome to the Fine Dining Podcast,

the search for the most mediocre restaurant in America. I am your host, Michael Ornelas, and this is the show where I dive deep into the history of our favorite chain restaurants before reviewing them. The point of this week's episode is to get to know the Panera Bread brand. And joining me today is a friend I met

while doing comedy here in LA. Her Instagram makes me laugh with an unrivaled level of consistency. And she herself has worked at Applebee's, Chili's, Cheesecake Factory, California Pizza Kitchen, Yard House, a strip club that sold pizza, and most relevantly, a Panera Bread for three years.

It's Liss Johnson. Hi. Hello. Hi, thank you for having me. Yes, welcome, welcome. Thank you for having me. Yes. Welcome. Welcome. Thank you.

I feel welcomed. I am so happy to see the Chachkia mediocrity in person. It's incredible. It's incredible art piece. I'm starstruck immediately. I get to look at it every day and it still brings a tear to my heart. So three years at Panera. Yes. Yes.

So I worked there all throughout like high school into college and it was in my hometown and I had to because I didn't drive. I still don't drive. That's a different conversation. We can bring that up. That's what this podcast is now about. I don't drive. Anyone wants to teach me how to drive.

Wait, so you just don't know how to drive? I don't even know how. I don't even know which one. That's why you drove drive. So you just don't know how to drive. I don't even know how. I don't even know which one. That's why you drove here. I was like, Michael, can I get a ride? So I didn't drive and I had to walk from Panera to my house every day, which was my childhood home, which is right next to like a landfill,

like just a giant dump. Yes, but magical childhood memories, you know. Are you an adult swim show? Oh, it gets worse. This is actually great. Liz, who lives next to the landfill, works at a Panera. Works at a Panera. The worst part is, like, I quickly realized after my first shift at working at Panera, I was like, this is so calm. This is just like a nice bakery where sweet old grannies go.

My walk home from the Panera to my house at the dump, I realized I reeked of bread and I'll get chased down by seagulls and birds. And they were like, hey, you're supposed to smell like garbage, why do you smell like bread? It was, I was delicious to them. So I was like getting my literal scalp, like pecked at by birds on my walk home.

So I had to just jog while all my coworkers were driving home and I would just be booking it on the side of the street to get home from Panera. So that's my number one highlighted memory of working there. There's not much else. So I'm here to learn. Do you like Panera? Like, do you eat there?

Did you eat there often when you worked there? I imagine you did. I did. Like, you weren't really allowed to, but like if a cool manager was working, you could eat whatever you want. If someone asked like, oh, I don't need the top for my bread bowl.

You're just back there like eating. We take all the scraps and just like, put to save them. Like the whole punched piece out of a bread bowl. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I don't eat there. I tried to dress as if I do. I even have the baguette earrings.

I tried to go all the way out, but no, I'm not that familiar. My lore is more with like 2008 to 2010 Panera. So I'm going to learn a lot today. I'm very I'm very excited. All right. Well, that is your history with Panera Bread. It sounds like you are ready to hear the history of Panera Bread. All right. We're going to jump into this week's Eat Deets. Eatery Details.

In 1987, Panera Bread started as St. Louis Bread Company in Kirkwood, Missouri when Ken and Linda Rosenthal opened their bakery with the goal of providing high quality, freshly baked bread in a welcoming environment. Came from such a wholesome, a wholesome intent. Yeah. The restaurant today valued at around $7. billion started with a loan for $150,000. Dang. Yeah.

I didn't know they were like, there's like Bezos, Zuckerberg, the Panera. That's crazy. Yeah, they, I mean, they're very highly ranked in terms of like the, when you're looking at top chains in terms of revenue plus number of locations, like when you balance those things, they're pretty regularly in like top 20 list. They were number 13, I think, for 2024. So they're cashing out.

In the country, yeah, like they're very prevalent. Yeah. Very lucrative. In 1993, St. Louis Bread Company merged with a company called Aban Pan, a larger bakery chain led by Ron Sheesh. Sheesh rebranded the business in 1997 as Panera Bread, using a name derived from the Latin word for bread basket. That was what Panera Bread, using a name derived from the Latin word for bread basket. That was what Panera means.

I thought maybe it was like bread, like pan, and then era, like it's an era. We're in our bread era. We're in our bread era. It's like Taylor Swift's era's tour. I'm assuming this was before. She's just eating a lot of bread. Yeah.

There's no way she's eating a ton of bread with those like body suits that she's wearing throughout all her touring and stuff. There's no tortured Baker's Department that she's got going on Panera's success in the late 90s and early 2000s was driven by its commitment to quality ingredients including Antibiotic free chicken and its focus on fresh made from scratch food. Keeping it fresh, eating fresh. I think that's Subway's tagline. That's copyrighted. Sorry, let's blur that out. It's not Panera. The brand became the go-to for people looking for healthier fast casual options. This focus on quality ingredients earned Panera a lot of

praise, especially as it responded to the growing demand for transparency in food sourcing. Fast casual. That's a new word. I didn't know that was a... Do you not know that categorization? No, dang. So there's fast food, fast casual, and casual. Oh, okay, okay. And fast food, you know, you know what a fast food restaurant is.

Typically they're able to offer you a drive-through. Fast casual is usually the type of place where you go, you get a number or a buzzer, and it's like, we'll call your name when your food's ready or whatever. Chipotle being a big fast casual. Fast casual. You know, also having like kind of that assembly line. Yeah.

Okay. Yeah. That can be a fast casual, whereas fast food is yeah, McDonald's, fried, microwaves, et cetera. Yeah. Stuff like that. And then casual, you know, sit down restaurants. Okay. So those are kind of the three distinctions.

Makes sense. Makes sense. Now, speaking of transparency, in 2010, Panera became the first national restaurant chain to post calorie counts on their menu boards. Thought leaders in the industry. Here's the thing. It's a trend that bothered me. I don't want to know. When I'm eating restaurant food, do you want to know? That's. I don't want to know. When I'm eating restaurant food, do you want to know?

That's the last thing I want to know. That there's like 1800 calories in a blooming onion? No, thanks. No. I just want the food. Yeah, no. I want, I don't want that at all. There should be a flap and if you want it disclosed, you can look or something, but.

I think it should also come with like a surgeon general's warning though. Where it's like, are you sure? Like you have to like confirm like six times. You have to get it notarized. They have to stamp it and they're like, all right, you asked. You just ate. There should be legal documents. 140 grams of carbs.

In 2013, Panera ran a Twitter campaign promoting antibiotic free chicken under the branding EZ Chicken, which offended farmers. The ad campaign was perhaps a little more aggressive than you'd expect, featuring a bunch of anthropomorphic pills, antibiotics, on a farm with slogans like, hard work pays off eventually, but lazy pays off now, implying that farmers who give antibiotics to chickens are bums unwilling to do the work. Panera. So they're not this squeaky clean image.

No, they were negging farmers, which like, look, I get it. There is plenty of reason to be concerned with antibiotics in food because if the chickens you are eating have antibiotics, you can develop antibiotic resistance. And then when you get sick, you get antibiotics. They're less effective. Michael's a doctor, by the way. I am a doctor. No, I get it.

I get it. Food science. But at the same time, you don't want to lose chickens to bacterial infections. Right. So it's like there is a balance to be struck there. I don't think you're like totally bad for using antibiotics in your farming processes. But Panera just like took this stance

and like they found themselves in a full on like firestorm. I remember the branding when I worked there way back in the day it was like antibiotic. I didn't even know what the hell that meant at all. And I remember I was supposed to tell customers I mean like oh it doesn't have And I like penicillin like I didn't know what the words were. I was a kid I was like, oh my manager said I got to start promoting the medicine chicken I didn't know what it was called, but I didn't know what it was or what the marketing was. I didn't understand the medicine.

I didn't know what the hell it was. There's Adderall in this in this pastry. A farm blogger known as Dairy Carry noticed it in one of the restaurants and drew attention to the campaign on her Facebook. A counter hashtag of hashtag pluck easy chicken arose and Panera had to say they were sorry, even if it was one of those weak ass, we were misinterpreted apologies. Ultimately, they removed the pill characters, but continued advertising that they are working harder by serving antibiotic free chickens.

And good for her. I'm assuming Pluck is because she couldn't say the F-bomb. That's very creative. Well, or maybe like pluck this campaign, like get rid of it. Yeah. But I do. I do think that that like double meaning was there for sure. Yeah, yeah. Panera also insisted that they were never criticizing the practice, but rather switched due to a taste preference, which is kind of immediately disproven by their literal word

choice in the ads. Yeah, it's... Like they're calling them lazy for the practice. That's... Paneraera shame on Panera. Yeah. And the apology was not widely accepted by the agricultural community. As they shouldn't. And good for this lady who had a big Facebook following and used her platform. Right.

Used her voice to be like, hey, what do you mean? We're not lazy. The term seems so outdated. She posted a real good status that really blew up on her wall. On her wall. Yeah. Yeah. In 2014, the company introduced its Panera

2.0 initiative, revolutionizing the ordering process with mobile apps, self ordering kiosks and delivery options. The company calls the iPad station their fast lane where customers may place an order and pay without approaching the counter. I Don't want that. I don't want any there are people who do there are people who are on the go and there are people who have Social anxiety over interacting with a person but like I don't know for me It's the billionth time I've said it. I don't like cheese, but that doesn't mean I can't have dairy, so it's like any food allergies.

If I say I'm allergic to dairy, cool. They don't put cheese on my thing, but I want that garlic aioli. So they're putting me in a position where I was like, if I told that to a person, they can just say, hold the cheese, but the machine doesn't. It needs to be a discussion. It's not, you're more than a just

no feta cheese type of guy. And like, what if I want a recommendation? Yeah, there should be a whole rapport. Yeah, they should have like a chat GPT style AI in the Fastlane station. Yeah, exactly. You're like, hey, how are you today? Anyways, today are, you know, this is kind of stale. We didn't, you know, the last batch was at 7 a.m.

You may want to skip this cookie and instead go for this bagel, you know. I don't know. Yeah, there's a lot of versatility that comes with interacting with a person. And so many of these companies are switching to the kiosk. Yeah. I also don't like that they call that the fast lane.

But then if you talk to a person, is that then the slow lane by default? Because I'm like. But also figuring out the kiosk slows me down. Yeah, exactly. I know how to order to a person is that then the slow lane by default? Because I'm like, but also figuring out the kiosk slows me down. Yeah, exactly. I know how to order from a person. Yeah. So now you got to learn all new software. Yeah. User interface. They mean it's best for them. Yeah, exactly.

I guess. Definitely not for us. But in 2017, digital orders accounted for over one billion dollars in orders or 26% of sales. The company introduced delivery services the next year, servicing 897 cities in 43 states and employing its own drivers, which that I actually really respect. And according to the company, that created 13,000 jobs. Dang. I mean, it's a delivery driver job where a lot of states can use loopholes to pay you

less than minimum wage. Correct. Michael's also a lawyer. I know a lot of things, you know? You know a lot about a lot. I don't know shit. I'm the one calling it Adderall chicken. I don't know what the word is.

That would sell though. There would be a lot of people getting a lot of homework done in Panera. They had Adderall chicken. In 2020, Panera introduced the Unlimited Sip Club, which do you know about this? I don't. I don't. All right. So it offered customers unlimited refills of coffee, ice tea and soda for a monthly fee. It's the AMC A-list of beverages. It still exists today, and for $14.99 a month or $120 per year if paid upfront,

members can get an eligible Panera drink every two hours with refills included while you're there. So, like, this literally seems like an amazing deal if you live in the attic of a Panera. And even if you don't, it's still a pretty incredible like if you work next to a Panera, you can literally just take breaks and continually getting free drinks. I'm sipping all day. But, you know, the monthly fee.

Who's keeping track of the two hours? Like, is there someone assigned like you see how many steps they take in two hours? You see how many steps they take into? I think this is on the assumption they take into I think this is Yeah, I think this is the implication of like If I got a coffee and I threw it away. Yeah, and then I come back two hours later It's a little honor system. Like if they gave you a soda cup Yeah, you got to wait a little bit But it also feels like they're really trying to keep people in store longer

Which is kind of antithetical to what a lot of the fast food chains are doing. And I know this is fast casual, so it's a little different. I could see someone in a Panera bringing their laptop and like, you know, just getting mundane stuff done. Whereas like a McDonald's is very much like, our seats are made of spikes. Please leave. You know? And we have 18 different beeps of every frequency going on all. We will find the way to hack your brain and make you like walk out of here and do some sleep rage and shit. You can't chill there. But not all of their beverages are worth it. In 2021, Panera made headlines for all the

wrong reasons with its charged lemonade, a drink marketed as an energizing option, but which contained up to 270 milligrams of caffeine, about the same as a large cup of coffee. Panera's marketing of the beverage brought about two wrongful death lawsuits related to the lemonade. That's insane. Yeah. lemonade. That's insane. Yeah. A 21 year old college student named Sarah Katz passed away as she had a heart condition that upon consuming the beverage was allegedly exacerbated to the point of cardiac arrest.

Then a 46 year old Florida resident with many preexisting health conditions by the name of Dennis Brown passed away from a cardiac arrest about a month after consuming a month after the first death, not a month after drinking the drinks. But yeah, this was the first girl died a month later. This guy dies. He had three charged lemonade. The lawsuit alleged that the charged lemonade was advertised as plant based and clean and was sold alongside non caffeinated drinks. Panera settled with the Katz family and with the significant backlash they faced,

agreed to move the product behind the counter, add warnings, reduce caffeine levels and ultimately phase out the product by 2024. I'm glad for that. It's like, just make bread. What happened to the bread? Like, I thought that was the whole point. Yeah.

This is too much. But like, it's interesting, because when I think about it, it's almost like if you went to a soda fountain at a place, you know, you get your cup, and you take it over, do I want Sprite, do I want Pepsi, do I want Monster Energy drink? It's kind of like, you know,

having that like kind of crazier next level of caffeine, because like we know that soda has caffeine, but I think there is something to like putting it out, or I mean, I guess they put out coffee, right? You know, with the know that soda has caffeine, but I think there is something to putting it out. Or I mean, I guess they put out coffee, right? With the little spigot thing and you walk over and you do that. You know what you're getting into with the coffee. But you know what you're getting into. Yeah, yeah.

With a lemonade, you don't expect it, so I think it's easier to go overboard if it's not clearly printed. Oh, absolutely. So I do think that there is some responsibility on Panera's end here in that they didn't warn people what to expect. Yeah, absolutely. I'm just a lawyer though. Does that appeal to you?

The death lemonade, or what is it called? The charge? The death lemonade. Sorry. That's how they branded it. Yeah. Does it appeal to me? It doesn't. Are you a big caffeine chaser at all?

Just coffee, like I can just shotgun coffee all day, but the second Sugar gets involved, I'll be like, you saw today I had Sugar at Panera and I lost my phone, I lost my mind, Michael had to help me. And now I'm on the come down. Yeah, she lost her vision. I lost my dignity. No, I lost, I can't do sugar and caffeine. I, she lost her vision. I lost my dignity. No, I lost.

I can't do sugar and caffeine. I can't even. The sugar would fuck me up. I feel like more than the caffeine. The only caffeinated things that I consume are sodas. And even then, like for the year of twenty twenty five, I'm only drinking water other than the one Baja blast. I tried when I was at Taco Bell.

Yeah, like my my New Year's resolution was one year all water. I did this like three years ago, made it the whole year only water. Damn. I don't know, I was a hyper kid. So like energy was never a thing that I chased in beverage form or anything. It was just kind of, I have energy and I drink soda because I like the taste.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Or the carbonation, which feels like you're just like being punched. Yeah. I don't know, something about the That's what it hits like the bubbles. Yeah. Yeah. Also, the company stated that they do not believe Brown's death

was related to their products. Of course they did. But they did settle with the Katz family. So there is, I guess, some admission of wrongdoing there. But the other guy just had like kind of a bunch of compounded health conditions that they're like, Andy drank three. We don't take responsibility for that. I do think that the mislabeling is still

a pretty big oversight on their end. It sounds like they're butt hurt, like he had three within the two hour minimum that we said the SIP club needs to. This is an honor club system. Yeah, exactly. You're honored he didn't wait two hours. That is the most corporate approach on this.

Oh, I hate that. In recent years, customers have expressed frustration with rising menu prices, especially given that some say the quality of food has slipped. There's been a sense that some of Panera's signature items like the bread bowls have become less flavorful or fresh over time. Critics also argue that the brand's focus on rapid expansion and cost control

has led to a more inconsistent dining experience across its locations. Which, yeah, that's kind of what happens at any time you expand rapidly. And also a lot of these companies are now owned by bigger corporations. It sounds like Panera is still owned by Auban Pan, which at the end of the day is still a restaurant, so I'm not as mad about Panera selling or anything. But yeah, there's some very big groups where it's like, oh, Buffalo Wild Wings and Netflix, I don't know, making this up, are under the same umbrella.

It's just like, why? Why does the same company own those two things? To where I'm going to be like, you're cutting corners, Buffalo Wild Wings. Despite the court of public opinion no longer backing Panera as unanimously as it used to, Panera continues to evolve. In recent years, the company has embraced plant-based options, including the green goddess Cobb Salad and other menu items catering to the growing demand for vegetarian and vegan diets.

I do tend to eat a plant-based diet, so I should have looked this up beforehand. Are you vegetarian? I'm a little weird. It's because I grew up in Wisconsin and I get the cheese sensor ready. And I just grew up eating so much cheese, like grilled cheese with fried cheese curds. Cheese curd is a whole other discussion, whole other podcast, with cheesecake as a dessert

kind of thing. So now I eat, I did permanent damage to my organs. So now I tend to eat vegan. You're like, you hit your quota. I hit my quota for like three lifetimes. So had I known, I would have gotten that. But you don't, and you don't do meat? I don't do meat.

I don't. So are you straight up vegan? Or you'll do eggs? I guess I'm like vegetarian, but and then like today I got the salad without the feta cheese, cause I don't want extra cheese. But I think the dressing might have had some, like,

eggy something in it, maybe. But... Do eggs bother you? Do you avoid eggs if you can? I kind of avoid eggs. I'm kind of, yeah, it's kind of like, what do I eat? And I'm trying to think, like... Yeah, very, I'm pretty much vegan. But I don't want to say I'm explicitly vegan,

because I ate Cheetos on the 4th of July, like two summers ago, and I still feel like like I'm still living with the title ever again. So I'm like, oh, I'm technically eat vegans most of the time. But yeah, you know, people could it's whatever you want to be. It's fine. I always say I have a plant based diet. I'm not I'm not keeping score. Like you're vegan. Oh, yeah? Well, what about Independence Day? Yeah, exactly.

What about the microplastics? That's a whole different thing. These are all other episodes we'll have to dive into. Yes, I'm going to have an episode where I cover a microplastic restaurant. Panera also continues to push for transparency in their sourcing and preparation methods,

including the removal of artificial ingredients from their menu. I would hope so, speaking of microplastics. As of today, Panera operates over 2,000 locations across the US and Canada. It's still a major player in the fast casual space, but it's clear that, like many companies, it has had to navigate its fair share of challenges, whether it's dealing with public relations disasters, quality control issues, or adapting to consumer trends, Panera remains a brand that's constantly evolving. And that will do it for this week's Eats Deets. Well Liss, I hope you were listening to all of that and got some good advice on how to

become a major player in the world of casual dining because the next few minutes are all about you and your vision for a themed chain restaurant dining experience of your very own. Hold on, let me figure out what musical style I want to do. Do do do do. This is the restaurant of your dreams. Line two. This is the restaurant of my dreams.

Forget about Panera's pastry things. This is the restaurant of your dreams. That was, I have no idea where the tonic note is in that. No, you hit that. You hit that shit. Let's tell me all about a restaurant concept that you see missing in the world that only you could turn into a reality. It must be practical.

It must be delicious and memorable. Three, two, one, go. Pitch me. All right, sharks, today I'm seeking 5% steak. Okay, so Panera, and this is based on my experience when I used to work there. It used to be like a safe space for old people. It was like a retirement home or like a hospice.

It was like just bread, just hot soup, just hot tea. You eat these hot things. Oh, I think you, you don't need teeth for those kind of things. It's very, very. If I could remove my teeth for eating ice cream, that would be great because they're overly sensitive to cold. Exactly, pop them in and out.

So now that's gone, I feel, because what we went through today was not the Panera I grew up with where it was just for grandpas and grandmas. It was like so hip and so, like I saw a commercial because we've been texting about Panera Bread, all my ads are Panera now. I saw a Panera ad and it was like this hip like,

boom, ah, and like, hip like beat. Like those sounds are foreign to an oxygenarian. This is way too hip, yeah, exactly. And it was like some woman with like an asymmetrical haircut who like works in STEM, like before, while she's coding, like eating the salad. Yeah, yeah. And like, and it was like Panera.

And I'm like, no, we need to bring it back. We reject this. We reject this. We need something for our octogenarians. Is that what you said? Yeah, people in their 80s, yeah. I brought a, like a visual pitch so that it's, I hope it's okay.

I hope it's okay. I hope it's okay, I bring it out. So this is my dream restaurant. It's also a charity and it's also an app. So we're going into the tech sphere. It's called Supper. It's kind of like Uber or like Grindr. I just want to describe to my audio listeners

what I'm looking at. You made an app icon over, over like over like what's that kind of pot called? That's not a crock pot. It's like she's making like some sort of stew. Yeah, there's like there's like a big red pot. It says Supper S.U.P.P.R. And it's got just a gleeful old lady that looks like she's from like a Miyazaki film or something.

Yes. And I didn't make all this imagery, so whoever actually did, sorry, I'll cut you a check. Did you just sort of Google this? I did a little photoshopping myself. This isn't the actual logo, so don't sue me yet. So Supper... Wait to sue me. Yeah, just wait.

Sue me later. So Supper, so it's an app. So there's these... Now, because Panera isn't for old people anymore, they're cooking from home more. These are statistics that I read in a magazine, or I can say this when I do tell the sharks, eventually I'll make it sound official.

There's many grandmas making home cooked meals, and they always have leftovers. And there's also hungry college kids who just want one plate of food. So the app, you can swipe and match based on your dietary preferences. How sweet the old lady looks. How sweet the old lady looks, if you guys think that you would vibe.

For some people, it looks only on these apps. Yeah, so shallow. I just want to tell my listeners, we did just swipe to a second page where she shows a youthful dating app aged man holding out a phone with a Tinder-like setup, but it says Greta, 87, 3.3 miles away, and she's holding a big plate of, is that pasta?

It looks like- I think it's like meatballs or something. Yeah. So if you were interested, you know, swipe right. Yeah. Maybe she's too far, maybe you don't like, maybe that's too far of a drive. You don't like the cut of her jib.

You don't like what she's offering tonight. Yeah. You're allergic to tomatoes or something. Swipe left. Yeah. Kind of thing. And this is a partner app with Slumber, where you can have her husband tell you bedtime stories and then fall asleep. But that's this is all in the works. This is all this is in the works.

So supper. That would be my dream restaurant. So it's not even a restaurant, it's a service. And you know what, even though it kind of skirts that rule, the technicality, I'm here for it. I'm here for it. Imagine you open up your phone and you're like, what's a home-cooked meal in my area

that wants to flirt with me or whatever. Yeah, the grannies might get a little, they might call you sugar and stuff, but then you get like a casserole. They're from a different time. They're old timey. They're from a different time. They're from a different time.

Yeah, I mean, I'll give you a 5% stake. Thank you. I'm looking for a credit line of two billion. Let me know. You get slumber with it. Never mind. I think I'm out because I don't have that capital. Two billion, that's crazy.

I want to immediately be a Fortune 500 company. Yeah. I usually have follow-up questions. I covered it all in my pitch. Anyone looking to invest? It was very thorough. Thank you. Thank you, thank you. Thank you for going over all of that with me. I now have a better insight into what you dream about.

So, this is the restaurant of your dreams. Now let's bring things back to reality and see what other people think of the Panera Bread that we went to in this week's Yelps from Strangers. A little Yelp, a little Yelp. Give us those complaints while you literally white and die. Yelp! Alright, this is Yelp from Strangers, our segment where we turn to Yelp and read out our favorite.

One, two, three, four, and five star Yelp reviews of the very Panera Bread that we went to. Do you mind if I start us off? Go ahead. All right. Four star review. This is from Peggy, April, and Jay from Los Angeles, California, June 27th, 2017.

This is four stars. After my foot therapy, I stopped here to rest my toes and a lady walked up to me and sprinkled lime juice on my toes. Hashtag pleasant, hashtag would come again. Okay, pause. Because the name, first of all, was it Ann J or Ann J? Ann, A-N-N-E.

Oh, okay, I thought it was like her and her husband. Peggy April Ann J. That was the-N-N-E. Oh, OK. I thought it was like her and her husband. Peggy, April, Ann, J. That was the weirdest thing about it. No, no, it's not anything else. That was the weirdest thing about it. I was like, how are two people writing this review? Peggy, Ann, J. First of all, no, they didn't.

This didn't happen. This is it. This is a constructed moment. This did not happen. She had to rest her toes. I love it when Yelp accounts only do bits and you look through their history and it's like, oh, they've only written joke reviews. And this was one of them that I found and it brought me like.

What? She said she so she just had foot therapy. Yep. Went there. They the Panera employees suggested putting the lime juice on. No, she didn't say an employee. She just said, a lady walked up to me and sprinkled lime juice on my toes and hashtag pleasant and hashtag would come again. So she was into this like foot play. She'd come again.

I don't know how that's spelled. I don't know. Sounds like she came once. She'd come again. I don't know how that's spelled. I don't know. Sounds like she came once. I exam. There it is. Panera. You know, sometimes being a creep has its health.

You need some lime juice on that. I feel like the walls are like moving right now. Three star review. Okay, so this is a three star review from September 2012 from Eva Kay. Sorry, man. I love it already. Sorry, man. This place smells like baby shit. Maybe that's because maybe that's because there's a lady in the bathroom changing her baby's diaper and it's stunk up the stalls and the hallway with this little kid's business.

All right. We're we're what two full sentences in. She has an issue with kids existing. She does. But also a place smelling like baby shit, I think, is an incredibly valid criticism. Smelling like baby shit I think is an incredibly valid criticism. I know this place can't help human excrement, but then why do I smell it everywhere? The servers are nice here, really friendly, but everything here feels dirty and they also seem a bit understaffed. I like that, that it's like, yeah, it smells like shit, but they're kind of nice. There could be more of them.

She's giving all of the considerations, you know? I know I shouldn't fault Panera for the baby shit smelling bathroom of doom. I mean, shit happens, but dude, now my mango smoothie smells like baby shit and my computer smells like baby shit. You know it's bad when the laptop sort of like pours, leak it in. And everyone... The hot fan. It just blows it up towards you.

And everyone who ever walked in Panera smells like baby shit. OK, so she's got beef with everybody. It's like... Y'all all smell like shit. At some point, you just have to question, is this your nostrils? Like, is this your issue? This might be a condition. Dr. Michael, can you speak to me?

Yes, and legally speaking, it's also a... And that's just not a good way to spend your Sunday. Preach. It's really not. It also smells like death, baby shit and death. Ooh, we're yes anding. Yes and. It's not just baby shit, it's now and death.

And death. This is only halfway through the review, by the way. So she's, but my servo's really friendly. Again, adding a new smell, but going back to the established but the service. She was nice. This is a three-star review, not a one-star. Mm-hmm.

When I, yeah, the everything and everybody that ever existed around this Panera smelling like shit only knocked off two stars. Yeah, that's really not bad. When I waited 10 minutes to try- Well the staff was very nice. They were so nice! When I waited 10 minutes to try and tell someone there were no napkins in the dispensary to wipe down the gross table

I wanted to sit at. Why did she want to sit at the girls table? I don't know. Maybe they were all gross. Okay, yeah, so they must have, okay. The place was caged. She helped me. The place was caged. Head to toe. Yeah. She helped me out right away.

Once I got to her, wow. She had to do a lot of other things before that happened, though. She had to do a lot of, she was busy doing things. Also, well, it smells like cafeteria in here too. So yeah, baby shit is the worst smell than death than cafeteria. It's like.

Again, I'm not hearing anything invalid in this review. This kind of corroborates with what we experienced. A baby shit smelling cafeteria at a hospital. Not a comparison that you didn't make. She's going in on this Panera. It was a horrible Sunday for her. But when I worked up at the Hollywood Production Center, sometimes I'd come here. Subtle brag.

Yeah. When I was Robert De Niro's private assistant, sometimes I'd pop down. Sometimes I'd come here and just get a sandwich, maybe a cup of soup. The food was always good. Maybe it's just today, maybe it's just Sunday. As a plus, there are nice big windows in the front.

Also the baby's shit smell is starting to disappear. So she was writing this review over a while in real time. She was revisiting this. She started outraged and by the end of the meal she was kind of more won over. Maybe she was at a one, brought her up to a three. Maybe I'll get a sandwich in a little bit. Nope, probably not. She's just stream of consciousness.

This is more like, this is like a journal entry. I'm really giving this place two stars, but I feel bad. I'm sure it would smell just like the cafeteria if the baby shit smell wasn't there. I also love it when people like give their true rating. They're like, I put three, but this is a two star review. Like as if the yeah, the Panera owner is going to be like, oh, thank you for your generosity. Did you enjoy those two Yelp reviews?

You can get three more over at my Patreon. That's Patreon.com slash fine dining podcast. And for just five bucks a month, you can get the extended deal from Stranger Segment as well as an exclusive restaurant that I cover each and every month. Dropping on the last day of the month. In January, I covered Dan's Hamburgers, which is literally my favorite burger in the world. It's this little diner in Austin, Texas.

And you get to hear me gush about it. February, I covered Jersey Mike's a sandwich place that I didn't have a lot of respect for going in and they have made me respect them I actually think Jersey Mike's is very good now and for March I covered blaze pizza, which if you've never had is one of those assembly line style Pizza places with a wood-fired oven in back. And it's actually very good. So you can find all of that at my Patreon and more. Hope to see you there. Thank you. That's part one.

Tune in next week as we review Panera Bread. We ate there mere hours ago and we've got thoughts. So next week we'll go into everything that was good about it, not good about it and all of the other details that were just there. That'll be in one week's time. In the meantime, Liss, where can people find more of you online? Uh, you can find me online. Am I allowed to swear? I forget. I mean, it's your Instagram handle. Okay, yeah. B word. My Instagram is at bitch, B-I-T-C-H, 1993.

I'm surprised it wasn't taken. Because I made it when I was like 13, or whatever the youngest age possible. So I've kept it this long. I'm like, we're gonna have it till I die. I love the idea that a 13 year old is like, I want bitch as my username. That's not realistic.

I was probably like 19 or something in my mind. I was a kid. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was a kid bitch. So I was a bitch as a kid. So that's your Instagram. You can follow the show on Instagram, TikTok, Blue Sky at Fine Dining Podcast.

More importantly, if you want to be part of the conversation, I launched a Discord. So please check out the description of this episode or my website. That's fine dining podcast dot com for a link to the Discord. The invite is free. You can you can join. You don't have to get any membership or anything like that. And I'm and I'm putting one of my old segments.

What's going on over there in your hands? If you submit a story that you've had at any chain restaurant, if I like it, I might read it and feature it on the show. So come and do that. Anyways, we'll just be sitting here waiting on our table for one week's time. We'll see you next week. Have a fine day.

["Waiting on Our Table"] Waiting on our table, waiting on our table. The step is done and we had some fun. Now we're waiting on our table, waiting on our table. Join us next time, we're stuck in line. Waiting on our table, waiting on our table. We're so hungry, tummy's grumbling. Waiting on our table, waiting on a table We gotta continue our search for mediocrity Yeah

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