Panera's pay-what-you-can cafes are a big hit

Panera Café Group is testing a format that is not only working, but benefiting others as well. The menus at Panera Cares Café in Dearborn, Michigan don’t list prices, only suggested donations, and rather than handing money to a clerk, customers would drop their coins and bills into donation bins at the counter. They can pay the full suggested price, pay more, or pay less. They can even pay nothing if that’s all they can afford! Mostly, it is a place where everyone who needs a meal can get one.

The question is- can the café sustain itself- pay its bills and cover its costs? After assessing the café’s first year of performance, the Panera Group has its answer: not only will it continue the Dearborn Panera Cares Café and others in Clayton, Missouri and Portland, Oregon, it plans to launch more in other cities.

Getting the message that these cafes will succeed if people in those communities do their part is the key to their success. It’s done through signs in the dining room and through employees, who embrace the café’s social mission.

I applaud the Panera organization for their idea and their execution of this concept. It speaks more than anything else to the general good heart that most people have. Customers come by and give more than what a cup of coffee costs in order to help other people they don’t even know. Look for more of these concepts to pop up throughout the country. I am sure that some businesses will abuse the concept, as surely as some people abuse the Panera goodness of heart. However, for the most part, I believe that people want to do the right thing.

I am not suggesting that any of you restaurants go to this concept immediately. However, the lesson to be learned here is broader than just for restaurants- believe in the general goodness of the human soul. Understand that if you are doing things for the right reasons, it will come back to you much stronger than you gave. Treat people the way you would like to be treated if you were in their place. Sounds a lot like the Golden Rule, doesn’t it? Guess what- it is!

Bobby Bland PWCA, CIC
Commercial Risk Service