manager en restauration rapide

directeur de restaurant

shop manager

assistant restaurant manager

Panera Bread

First off, I don't have anything much to say about the job duties themselves.  They're straight forward and as to be expected in a modern day bakery-chain environment.

On the other hand, the corporation's understand of what a baker should be capable of and what is able to actually be done in a 7.5-8 hours shift is ridiculous.  In the bakery manual they list the amount of time it should take you to perform certain tasks...icing cookies, shaping and preparing dough, decorating product.  The amount of time listed is about 2-3x the amount of time they actually expect you to take doing it, and yet they want to enforce company specifications and quality without giving you extra help.  Unfortunately, the management understands this, but their hands are (somewhat) tied, and Panera makes it difficult for them to get you the help you need as well.

Working the 3rd/graveyard shift makes having a life impossible.  I'm sure this is the case in any job.  Somehow I managed to go to school full time and work full time because luckily my BMM was understanding, but the other manager singled me out because I was going to school and he felt I couldn't hold my job and attend classes.  I never had a problem doing both until I started a serious relationship with my, now, fiancee.  After my bosses caught on to the fact I was requesting weekends off and was trying to have a life, most of my requests for days off (which weren't often and were spaced out) were denied.

Also, don't expected to be promoted.  Ever.  Promotions, raises--all few and far between.  Apparently they have to be approved by corporate and generally are only approved once a year.  Promotions don't go to the person with the highest calibration scores (bakes and environment cleanliness are scored monthly) but rather to those that have little education, don't clean up after themselves, produce a sloppy product at the cost of following spec, and that cozy up to the BTS (manager below the BMM).

This job was great when the Panera first opened (and a few years after). They gave you a decent amount of raises, the more you trained, the more you earned. There was benefits and bonuses for supervisors and managers for decreasing waste waste and getting good customer feedback.

Everything changed when the American counterpart sold the business to be managed by FMI Atlantic, a Canadian company who owns KFCs and Pizza huts etc. 

Panera is known for its great fundraisers for food banks and shelters around specific store areas. They would also give prizes and bonuses to associates who did the best or hit a certain cap. They would usually always match dollar-for-dollar. But they changed all this and it was clearly a way to save on year end tax breaks. 

They got rid of all bonuses and raises for management and associates, wouldn't cover the cost of your health insurance, cut store hours so low that they would expect you to work almost 2 to 3 different positions at once but expected the same speed of service and cleanliness standards they want. It was so understaffed at the downtown Yonge St location in Toronto it became an unsafe work environment for staff and customers.

Whenever Assistant or general managers tried to bring their concerns above their area/regional managers to FMI human resources, they were fired. 

The best part was when the Yonge St location unionized right before the COVID19 shutdown. They cancelled employees health insurance within 3 days of receiving an email the beginning of April that they would have to pay out of pocket, or lose it, they also closed this location down in May 2020. It's the only FMI location of any of their businesses to close.

Term of employment: 10 months (3 months full-time, 7 months part-time because of school)

-Shifts start at 3 am. The end of a shift varies depending on how fast or slow you work.
-You are entitled to a 30 minute break which I did not take because I felt that there were no other employees trained to watch over my products.
-Training consisted of shadowing and working with an existing baker until management requires you to work alone (for me it was a month).
-There were 2 interviews. The first was with a shift supervisor asking basic questions. The second was with the district manager where they educated you more on the job.
-Orientation was done in a group with the district manager where you sampled products, got background information of the company, and had a tour behind the counter.
-Communication between management and employees, and even within management was disorganized. There were many changes within the company that were not communicated.
-The pay is not worth it because of the early morning shifts, the omitted duties in the job description, and the lack of decent leadership and communication. 
-By the end, I was very unhappy working there and even more unhappy that, having done nothing wrong, I was being shifted out of my role as a baker without being told prior. Seniority means nothing in this company; having been there for almost 1 year, I did not have priority over the amount of hours dedicated to the baker role.
-Reason for leaving: I was going to be shifted into other roles which was not what I had applied for and had also not been discussed with me prior. My request for more hours (because I had just finished school) was also ignored.

I worked for at the Aurora location for almost 3 years since it opened back in April 2016. I will say right now that the only reason i stayed so long was for the fact that my co-workers made every second bearable and i cared about them. The decisions the management team made over the course of my time there were not only unprofessional but unbelievably comic at times. They would make one or two workers (often new hires too) to work line during peak rushes because of under staffing for hours on end and often not help at all if it was really busy. Having 2 people do the job of at least 6 during the busiest time is disgusting, so no wonder they don't have the respect or support of their staff.  If someone called in "sick" the managers at the time would HOUND everyone and pester each person if they could stay and cover, even if that person has been there for 9 hrs already, and if you were actually sick they would tell you to "pop and Advil and call back in 30 mins". They do NOT care about the people they hire and work with. There is no respect among worker and boss and the support system there for training new hires is a joke. If you had a complaint or request and told the managers it would take WEEKS to hear back and they would not give straight answers at all. I waited nearly a month for my T4 and the reason was he "forgot" even though i asked every time i saw him. If you work at this location, expect to be treated like a time slot because that is how they see you, a cog in the machine that they only care about if it affects them directly.

 I still talk to some of my coworkers because I made genuine friends there and they still tell me of how the general manager still makes terrible decisions regarding the staff and the establishment so good to hear nothings changed.

This was a good learning experience, and that's about all the positive things I can say about it. 
A typical day was pretty simple, be a cashier for a bit in the morning, come lunch time, I would help deliver food to the tables and keep the dining area clean throughout the lunch period. After lunch I would generally wash dishes and help restock the store for whatever it needs.
Management was a mess, our store became a "training center" for new management. So every few weeks our managers would get switched, we would get new ones that would have no idea what they were doing, and they didn't do things the same way the other managers did, so it was stressful having to change our work styles every other week to suit the new manager's needs. The two managers that did remain constant at the store however were also completely disorganized, people's schedules would be messed up, they wouldn't order the right amount of stock, so we wouldn't have half the right amount of food or coffee cups for the week until the next delivery came. People constantly complained but things never changed, it seems as if none of the management cared about the quality of food or condition of the store.
The hardest part of the job, as I mentioned above, was probably the ever constant changing management. As most of us full time employees would grow to really like a certain manager and his/her management style, just to have them leave us a few weeks later and receive a manager that had no clue what they were doing.
The most enjoyable part of the job was the regular customers. Seeing a familiar smile in the morning or throughout the day was always so uplifting, even if you were having a bad day, some customers could just cheer me up so quickly and put me in a great mood for the rest of the day.

Panera is constantly trying to save as much money as possible. They will cut your hours and expect you to do the same amount of work in lesser time. 
Some managers are chill, but some are constantly telling you to do random favours including your mandatory work. Those managers are also always up your bum and constantly telling you you're doing your job wrong and are never happy. 
Closing would be a pain because you're usually understaffed so the company can save money, thus being overworked. 
You are always expected to do *something*, even when the place is bone dry, and even when the place is dead, you'll probably be sent home to save some company money. 
If you go out of your way to learn every station (cash, dishwasher, food line, etc.), you'll only make yourself constantly overworked as you're expected and are ordered by the managers to constantly jump positions. You are to cover someone every time anyone goes on break. 
Doing good deeds in the workplace (like cleaning the maggot filled garbage carts) will pretty much get you no reward or recognition. Only rarely you'll get a free meal (UNDER 15$!!) for it. 
Coworkers are funny and chill but everyone is constantly looking for literally any other job and only work at Panera just because they were the first to hire them. 
Expecting a raise in this company will only leave you disappointed. They will not spend another cent on you. Free food is non-existent and employee discounts are only available on your breaks; discounts are not to be used freely. 
You get free drinks and coffee though (but NOT specialty drinks, you only get the diabetes inducing drinks like Pepsi and Lemonade). 

Overall, just wait for another hiring manager to call you. Don't answer Panera's call lol

I don't know about other Panera's, but Panera Bread Ajax is a DISASTER. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND WORKING HERE. This is mainly due to management, which changes constantly, and gets worse each time it is changed. There were previous managers who were promoted, regardless of being probably the least trained employees in the store. They don't promote people who actually know what they are doing, they promote people who kiss up to management all the time. When I would request help from a shift supervisor, the response would be they do not know how to do that. If you are a manager, firstly, I should not have to ask you to help your team, thats your job to figure out. Secondly, I shouldn't be better trained than you, because then there's not really any point of you being there. When the store was extremely busy, managers were just sitting down, eating, or running around being useless. Worked shifts with only two employees in the store (including myself), managers still refused to do anything productive to help us, but would yell at us when we made one small mistake. I have never felt so belittled, demeaned and degraded then i did with Panera Bread Ajax management. There was no recognition for people who put in the most work, doing multiple jobs at once and covering shifts for other employees who couldn't be bothered to show up. .  Most staff members were nice, other than managers, but that doesn't make up for the bad treatment.

Working for a location that cares about safety only when it suits them is rather troubling, along with hiring new folks when the staff they already have is struggling to receive hours; it's frustrating. It's hard to work for people in leadership who don't know how to talk to people, are unreasonable and unrealistic with their demands and then get upset with the staff when the job is not done in their short deadline. Of course deadlines are certainly important, but one must be realistic about them; adding substantial amounts to the workload and then expecting them to be done at the same time is unfair. The associates are friendly and kind, there's a reason we called it the Panera family, but there is certainly something to be desired of the workplace environment. Some of our best staff have left for similar reasons; people that worked hard, were reliable and generally were all-around good people. I've learned quite a bit from Panera, its definitely a place to hone skills, as long as you have the patience to deal with the daily struggle, and are looking for only part-time work. Of course I can only speak for the location I work for, but head office seems to be the ones setting the amount of hours the cafe gets; this directly leads to things not being done due to lack of staff, which of course has a domino effect throughout the cafe. It's not a good situation.

Rudest management on the face of this earth. They acknowledge the power that they have over you and use that to get you to do the tasks that they were too lazy to do themselves. Trying to get a shift covered was impossible because the management refused to hire new employees even though we desperately needed them. The food preparation area was always super dirty and the same mops that were used in the bathroom were also used in the kitchen... The hardest part of this job was putting up with how unacceptable the behavior of the management was. A typical day at work would consist of maintaining your area of the cafe and taking orders. Occasionally if you worked a closing shift you had to vacuum with the WORST vacuum cleaner on the face of this earth. This vacuum cleaner was so dirty and broken I went home with dust on my face every day. Not to mention when this vacuum cleaner would break the management would patch it up with duct tape... and then it proceeded to break again. Panera accepts tips usually at the cash area and although the customers believe the tips are going to the employees, they actually go straight to the cafe which wouldn't be an issue if the cafe would spend it on something useful such as A NEW VACUUM CLEANER.

A typical day at work would be helping customers with the menu, cashing out their food orders, serving the food to the tables for the people who choose to dine in, cleaning the dining room (wiping down tables, clearing tables, spot sweeping the area, stocking), merchandising products such as pastries, bagels, breads. I learned to take responsibility for my actions, I've grown to love serving customers and have encountered different types of people and customers. I learned to work with my coworkers as a team and it has come to the point where Panera is my second home because whenever I come to work, it is so productive and fun, it doesn't feel like we're at work and the staff really are my second family. The hardest part of the job would probably be the cleaning duties at the end of the night during closing shifts since it requires intense cleaning to avoid food or crumbs to be leftover during night and to prevent the attraction of bugs. Management are very appreciative and they honour their staff. The most enjoyable part of the job is bonding with different people and creating a customer connection with each and every different customer by letting them have a positive experience at Panera and making their day.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Manager en restauration rapide 4 salaries reported	$18.13 per hour
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Shop manager 1 salary reported	$26.00 per hour
Assistant restaurant manager 1 salary reported	$21.40 per hour

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