Service Design: Observations on Panera Bread

For our first assignment, we were tasked to observe a service experience at a cafe/restaurant. We went to Panera Bread in Oakland for an hour from 4:30pm to 5:30pm on a Wednesday night to see what kinds of interactions occurred between customers and workers.

Roles

We observed five different roles.

1. Cashier: Took orders, interacted with customers, exchange money for receipt.
2. Customer: Ordered food from menu
3. Chef: put orders together, calls customer name
4. Baker: re-stocked pastries, bakes in the kitchen
5. Cleaner: refill coffee and tea, restock cups, take trays, clean tables

*Chefs, Cashier and Baker were all interchangeable roles

In the beginning of our observation, there were not a lot of customers. However, by 5:00pm more people started to come in. When it became busier, the bakers also took over the role of the cashier. Also, the number of cleaners also increased.

Touchpoints

1. Register: Customer and Cashier
2. Pick-up counter: Customer and Chef
3. Rapid pick-up (digital interaction) : Customer and Cashier
4. Rapid pick-up Shelf: Customer and Ordered Food
5. Coffee bar: Cleaner and Customer
6. Order Buzzer: Chef, Cashier, Customer and System

Sketches/Photos

Extra Notes/Details

• Separate lines for pastries and food
• Busier on foods side
• People congregate and stand in line waiting to pick up their food
• If customers order food to-go the chef hands them their food in a bag

Notes by Clara Kim and Louise Zhou