Panera's Socialist Pay-What-You-Want Restaurant Implodes: Students, Homeless Mob The Place

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I really thought I was reading an "The Onion" type joke story:
According to Eater, after nine years of being in business, Panera Bread's socialist pay-what-you-want restaurant, Panera Cares, will officially be closing shop on February 15 due to the business model's unsustainability.

While Panera Cares billed itself as a "non-profit" restaurant designed to feed low-income people, the business model was anything but. Rather than create a charitable organization that distributes food to needy families or a discount outlet or even a $1 menu (like every other fast-food restaurant), Panera tried to create a socialist system in which meals were offered at a suggested donation price. That means some people would pay more while others would pay less based on what they felt like or could afford. By not simply offering food at a low price (hat-tip, Dollar Tree), Panera completely removed any incentive for patrons to meet even the lowest standards of consumer/retailer exchange. The result: some people paid their fair share while others enjoyed a "free lunch."
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Panera Cares went on to open five locations in cities like Dearborn, Portland, Chicago, Boston, and St. Louis. None of the restaurants were self-sustaining, with some locations reportedly being "mobbed" by students along with homeless people looking for a free meal.

"The Portland-based Panera Cares was reportedly only recouping between 60 and 70 percent of its total costs," reports Eater. "The losses were attributed to students who 'mobbed' the restaurant and ate without paying, as well as homeless patrons who visited the restaurant for every meal of the week. The location eventually limited the homeless to 'a few meals a week.'"
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More: https://www.dailywire.com/news/43105/paneras-socialist-pay-what-you-want-restaurant-paul-bois

:rotflmbo:
 
Maybe they planned from the beginning to use Panera Cares as a tax write off. :shrug:
 
ancona said:
They had to know that this wasn't going to end well.
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I honestly think they are just that ignorant, or they might prefer the term idealistic. Liberals with their belief that utopia is just around the corner if only every one would get on board with communism are some of the most delusional & feelings based people you will come across. No matter what horrors come out of the latest attempt at communism (Venezuela anyone?) they think "THIS TIME" it will work. :flushed:

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They should have sent food trucks to Fort Myers instead.
 
* bump *

Different story is a tangent, but loosely related to economic folly:
Sometimes promotions can work too well.

That’s the case at Red Lobster, which is 36% owned by Thai Union Group TU, -1.34% TUFBY, -2.94%, also the owner of Chicken of the Sea canned tuna business. And on a conference call last month, CFO Ludovic Garnier spelled out the damage the promotion called Ultimate Endless Shrimp did.

“The price point was $20 and you can eat as much as you want,” explained Garnier, according to a FactSet transcript. “For those who have been in the U.S. recently, $20 was very cheap. And the rationale for this promotion was to say we knew the price was cheap, but the idea was to bring more traffic in the restaurants.”

And traffic did rise — by roughly 2% compared to the second quarter, and by 4% compared to last year, at a seasonally weak time of the year for the restaurant. Garnier said competitors lost market share to Red Lobster.

“But something which was different from our expectation is the proportion of the people selecting these promotions was much higher compared to expectation. What does it mean? It mean that the people coming to Red Lobster, they were really looking for a very strong value proposition And of course, we know on these promotions, we don’t earn a lot of money at $20, we don’t. Okay.”
...
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www.marketwatch.com

Endless Shrimp deal meant endless pain for Red Lobster’s owner

$20 endless shrimp was an endless headache for Red Lobster's owner.
www.marketwatch.com www.marketwatch.com

 
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