How could a national chain restaurant survive if it's only open till 3 during the week and closed on weekends?

I can’t speak about Panera – I haven’t been to one since before the pandemic – but there a plenty of breakfast-only places in suburban Atlanta that do exactly as you describe – and they stay in business.

1) One shift of employees – they only need to cover 8 hours (or 10 or whatever) – meaning fewer waiters, a smaller cleanup crew, fewer managers, etc. Saves a bundle of money.

2) Smaller menu = less wastage, don’t need to stock a huge selection of food because the morning/lunch menus are more limited.

3) Save on utilities – heat, power, etc.

Obviously it’s a choice the restaurant makes (to only do breakfast/lunch) but I can absolutely see how they can make a profit by limiting themselves.

We have regional restaurant that has been breakfast until 1 PM only, for 7 years.

We have several BBQ joints that are 9 AM until “we run out”; sometimes it is 2:30 PM in the afternoon or earlier. One has been there for over 40 years.

By minimizing costs and maximizing revenues PER HOUR rather than chasing every last dollar.

I have a Deli near me that I like that does the same. It’s open for a breakfast and lunch, but closes at 2pm. They used to stay open until 4pm. They know that is where they do the most business, and by only being open for that period, sure, they’re missing SOME revenue, but in their opinion, not enough to justify the expense of paying longer hours to employees and such. They’re catering to the local business employees as they are located in a fairly commercial zone rather than being located near retail outlets and such where they might cater to shoppers.

It’s knowing your niche.

My money is on money laundering, with the restaurant just being a front.

@ragingloli now that you mention it, I remember 60 years ago; there was a pizza place in “Little Italy” section of the city that had odd hours. I think they got arrested for “running numbers”!

Everyone so far has mentioned restaurants that are only open during breakfast and lunch, but are those places closed on weekends, too? This Panera is (as mentioned in the post).

Ask yourself this: Would you think of Panera as a place you would go eat dinner? Likely not, it’s a lunch place. Even more specifically, it’s a weekday lunch place. If they’re losing money being open during low-traffic hours then why be open during those times?

Because Panera is not a single-store franchise, those may be the appropriate hours for that one location due to being short-staffed, management or venue issues, pandemic circumstances, etc. A quick survey of 5 locations not far from me showed that all have evening and weekend hours.

Sounds like your store hours may be a one-off, and it may be temporary.

In your locality, does Panera have a liquor license? I’m guessing that it doesn’t.

Restaurants have huge markups on beer, wine, and alcohol; if they’re busy during evenings and weekends, they likely make most of their profits by selling alcoholic beverages.

Panera might not do much business for dinner, especially if it can’t offer liquor, and the weekday crowd might be people buying breakfast before work or lunch during their breaks. Your local outlets may be making smart decisions, focusing on when they’re busiest, paying employees to work one shift, and minimizing overhead for utilities and other variable costs.

@Tropical_Willie – speaking of gambling

When I was a kid, I went to a barber shop not far from where I lived. The guy who owned it – Herman – was a barber, but he was also a bookie.

My parents made me get a butch haircut every couple of weeks – and every time, Herman would turn off the razor and answer the phone and write whatever numbers down. Everyone knew exactly what he was doing, but no one cared.

All of this is to say that neighborhood gambling joints have been around for generations.

@jca2 The forty year old BBQ I mentioned above is closed Sundays and Mondays.

I could easily do Panera for dinner.

So I looked it up. The only one that I found anywhere near you that was open those limited hours is a half mile away (on the other side of the parkway, easy access) that says it’s open 24 hours.

“…a half mile away…_from another one_…”
Sorry about the incomplete sentence.

My husband now works for First Watch and the restaurants are open 7:00am to 2:30pm.

There are some other restaurants I can think of that are only open breakfast and lunch, most are local, I’m trying think of another chain.

It’s not uncommon for quick serve type places to only be open M-F if they are in business or warehouse areas that only have foot traffic of delivery orders during the business week.

If the restaurant is near an area that is busy on weekends I would think they are giving up a lot of revenue.

Panera hours vary depending on the location. Panera near me is 6:30am to 9:00pm 7 days a week I think.

@canidmajor It’s Brookfield CT, There are no other Paneras within a close distance. There’s one at the Danbury Mall, which is about four exits on the highway, and there’s New Milford, which is not within a mile or two of Brookfield.

https://locations.panerabread.com/ct/brookfield/143-federal-road.html

It’s a single link in the chain. I would assume that the neighborhood does not provide the dinner traffic to justify extending the hours.

@jca2 I thought you meant near you. My bad. The one I am talking about is in Hawthorne, a bit north of 87.

@canidmajor Brookfield is about ten to fifteen minutes from me. Hawthorne is probably 25 minutes from me. I do a lot of shopping in Brookfield and I think of it as “near me.”

@jca2 I wonder if that plaza doesn’t get a lot of evening shoppers? Is it a high crime area?

@JLeslie It’s a good area with a lot of shopping up and down the road. In the plaza is a large supermarket, a Joann’s craft store, and other, smaller stores. On the road, up and down the road, is a Costco, BJ’s, Kohls, Michael’s (crafts) large furniture stores, pet stores, fancy grocery stores, so many stores and restaurants and gas stations. A very busy road all day and night, and especially on weekends. Other than the local mall, when people where I live say they’re going shopping, they’re usually referring to Brookfield.

I just googled Panera in Hawthorne, because I had no idea there was one and I see it’s at the medical center. That’s a 40 minute ride for me.

@jca2 I had assumed from your descriptions that you were inside the White Plains/Yonkers/New Rochelle triangle. Silly me.

@canidmajor:I worked in that area until I retired last year. I live right on the CT border.

Some don’t. We had a Panera’s up the street that we loved.

They survived the pandemic in good form as their take out business boomed thanks to their mobile app that offered curbside pickup or delivery. Plus, they offered a monthly Coffee Club which was free for six months then only $9/month. One iced or hot coffee, up to 3X/day. After three drinks, it paid for itself.

They were so busy during 2020–21.

When they later reopened for inside dining, they lost a bunch of workers who quit. So much so, they had to limit their hours to 9AM to 3PM.

They were out of business within six months.

All this Panera talk, now I am craving a specific sandwich. Lunch plans made!

Turkey and Swiss grilled on sour dough, please. Also cheese and broccoli soup.
Thank you.

He could have also said “Ich bin ein Amerikaner”, and he would have been one of these things:

That looks good Raggy. What is it?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_and_white_cookie

Panera has these “duets” now (they’re called duets) which is a small soup and a small salad or sandwich, 5.99. There are certain combinations. They don’t advertise it, which is weird. You would think they would want people to know that you can go to Panera and have a full meal for less than their typical large anything, which runs about 12 dollars.

It’s a sandwich and soup, fast casual.

Is it really so hard to imagine that their night and weekend crowd isn’t busy? Minimum wage is $14 bucks… so a 6 hours night shift with barebones staff is $400 ish in labor, plus lights, heat, prep, cleanup and waste. Figure at least $1000 bucks to keep it open per evening, 2500 per weekend day, and that’s before anyone makes any profit. If they aren’t doing at least 50 covers an hour, it’s losing proposition.

It’s funny how people are hand wringing over the lowering quality of a generally pathetic fast food system. Food is getting more expensive, especially the out of season items everyone thinks they are entitled to year round. Labor is getting more expensive. No one ever put any effort into quality of service anyway, and now the concept has basically evaporated. In the future, you may see better staffing levels at these joints, but two of three things will happen: prices will be significantly higher, selection will be much smaller, or quality in general will be pushed even lower, if that’s even possible, which you know it is.

Just pack a sammie and save 15 bucks a day. Or to put it another way, pack a lunch and earn $6000 a year.

@Smashley I love the idea of saving money (who doesn’t) but it’s not always practical to pack a sammie and there are many unplanned days (out running errands longer than expected, etc.).

It happens for sure. Just recognize that the old model was unsustainable, and slightly fewer food options doesn’t mean it’s the depression all over again.

If this single outlet in the chain maintains the odd schedule, I should think the explanation readily supplied through a simple inquiry addressed to the corporate website. As inept as I am regarding such stuff, think I’ll give it a shot. Meanwhile, the clues, open til 3 and closed on weekends sounds to me like catering based solely on mainline workday schedules in a commercial, manufacturing or business district. Come to think of it @Jca, next time you’re going to pass the place when it’s open, why not stop and ask. Those places always have great danish and sometimes streusel as well as really decent cookies and alway fresh.