Anonymous wrote:My son worked there as a baker. He smoked weed daily so no, the job is not that hard. Pretty much everyone working at that place did drugs.

I will never eat there.

So you raised a drug addict. Thanks for your dining tips.

Anonymous wrote:Do they actually bake at each Panera store? I never thought they did b/c it doesn't "smell" like a bakery.... KWIM? I bake at home and if I'm doing anything with yeast, it has a wonderful yeasty smell (I love it). When I go to Panera, I don't smell anything related to bread.

... which led me to believe they must truck-in all the goods and they are just pretending to be the bakers. But, I still like Panera even if they are faking the baking.

Panera bakes all of their breads and bagels fresh every day (the dough is pre-made). Whatever isn't used is donated to charity. The bakers come in the the evening and bake all night. The store smells wonderful at 5 o'clock in the morning!

Do they actually bake at each Panera store? I never thought they did b/c it doesn't "smell" like a bakery.... KWIM? I bake at home and if I'm doing anything with yeast, it has a wonderful yeasty smell (I love it). When I go to Panera, I don't smell anything related to bread.

... which led me to believe they must truck-in all the goods and they are just pretending to be the bakers. But, I still like Panera even if they are faking the baking.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son worked there as a baker. He smoked weed daily so no, the job is not that hard. Pretty much everyone working at that place did drugs.

I will never eat there.

If you are not going to eat anywhere the staff does drugs you are going to miss out on a *lot* of restaurants, and not just casual ones.

Restaurants employ druggies like rice is white. Good luck in life!

Anonymous wrote:My son worked there as a baker. He smoked weed daily so no, the job is not that hard. Pretty much everyone working at that place did drugs.

I will never eat there.

Why? Is it more than the employees do drugs?

Anonymous wrote:My son worked there as a baker. He smoked weed daily so no, the job is not that hard. Pretty much everyone working at that place did drugs.

I will never eat there.

If you are not going to eat anywhere the staff does drugs you are going to miss out on a *lot* of restaurants, and not just casual ones.

My son worked there as a baker. He smoked weed daily so no, the job is not that hard. Pretty much everyone working at that place did drugs.

I will never eat there.

As a current baker for Panera bread, I can tell you it is a great job to have. They offer a great training program, and you get a few nice baker perks as well such as free food allowance, and a quarterly bonus check. Like most jobs, you get out of it what you put into it. If you want to learn some basic baker skills to break into the baker world, Panera is a great place to start.

Anonymous wrote:This sounds like an interesting job. Do you have to be a graduate from a culinary school to even be considered for a job like that?

No. Panera has a training program.

Anonymous wrote:This sounds like an interesting job. Do you have to be a graduate from a culinary school to even be considered for a job like that?

Dude, its panera.

This sounds like an interesting job. Do you have to be a graduate from a culinary school to even be considered for a job like that?

I worked at Panera, but not as a baker. I loved it! My co-workers were super friendly. It was a very clean place to work. I loved the focus on health, environment, and helping those in need. The culture was just really neat.

Work is not too tough for the bakers. They get the dough pre-made every day. The baker starts the curing and bakes the breads, bagels, and pastries in store every night. The night bakers come in around 10pm and bake until about 6am. The day baker is basically in the store in case there is a need for additional baked goods. The day baker usually has additional responsibilities- cashier, runner, back of house....

Panera really is a great place to work!

We had a family friend that did that at Panera's main location at the St Louis Bread Company. It involved very early hours, but she loved it.

That was years ago, so I don't really remember any more details than that.

Being a profeszional baker is hard work.

Anyone ever worked as a baker for Panera Bread? Love it? Hate it? Thoughts on the day vs. night shift?