So I am once again at Panera Bread. For the souffle and even some of the pastries I need not only a fork but a knife as well.
Recently, without fail, I am given a fork and must ask for a knife. Annoying. I have also noticed that they have switched to plastic cutlery. Today I received a real fork but went back to get my knife. So I am eating the souffle with a silverware fork and plastic knife.
This is somewhat unnerving. Do the executives at Panera think people like having to ask for a knife? This has happened in Willow Grove, and Newark DE as of late…
christiansbehaving.wordpress.com 
Maybe plastic knives are less of a weapon than real knives?
It’s just another cheapo tactic. What am I supposed to do, eat the souffle like a pizza slice? Or mash it to a flaky death with my fork?
Maybe they are cutting costs so that they can provide benefits to their employees. ;^) You could aways bring your own.
Now THERE’s a jolly idea! That is SO “mister bean”! I’m really considering this.
Oh no! A plastic knife! I better go home and complain about it.
Ever notice brand quality slipping and wonder if it’s not a general trend? I used Panera’s wifi to post about it, if it concerns you.
The free WiFi at Panera Bread uses SonicWALL censorware to block access to blogs that offer legitimate political speech – particularly conservative and counterterrorist blogs. See:
Panera Bread articles on 1389 Blog
and:
Stop Blog Censorship! Resource Page on 1389 Blog
I have found this to be true. My own dear friend, the Mont-ster, was himself censored from the Panera wifi! To be fair to Panera/SonicWall, I disputed the censorship and I’m pretty sure they allowed his blog. The whole thing was kind of silly – I mean, who would censor the Mont-ster?
As an employee, I have to say that sometimes (say after the morning rush) we run out of clean silver knives and have to give plastic. In the morning, there are usually only enough workers to put on produce and protein prep, panini prep, line set-up, and Via (all one each), with a couple people in bakery. There isn’t an official dining room person until lunch (around 11). We try, but it’s hard between the schedule, workload and things that get lost or thrown out and waiting for permission to reorder stuff.
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In response to any and all comments about ‘cutting costs,’ that obviously wouldn’t be the case because plastic cutlery costs money to replace and silverware does not. As a Panera employee, I have to agree in saying that sometimes [especially in the morning] we run out of real silverware. It goes quickly and we don’t always have someone running the dishwasher because the restaurant gets so busy.
The person calling themself “Hi!!” Makes a good point. Another thing is that knives are the most common ‘non-trash’ item to ever be thrown away. So there is most likely a shortage of knives in which case they only give them out when asked and if they don’t have enough clean real ones they give you a plastic one. What you can do though is if they don’t give you a knife or they give you a plastic one go over to the sandwich line where you pick up your non-bakery items and ask them for a knife. They rarely rarely give out plastic and they usually always have knives on hand.
I’m really sorry I left you like a million stupid comments on your other post. You can totally go spam my page or something. http://pbolesworth.wordpress.com
Ummm maybe you shouldn’t be sooo picky… when you work at panera their are a lot of things on your mind, believe me i work there and its hell. so have some sympathy for the employees, they have to ring in miserable people like yurself all day long. so if they mess up, smile and say “thats Okay”, they’ll love you. When you are understanding, you will be served better too.