University Town Center Panera sets for grand opening

Panera's Table Tracker helps staff deliver
food to customers in the dining room.

Panera Bread is readying for its grand opening on Nov. 5 on Cattlemen Road.

Panera's franchise operator Harmony Food Service announced additional details for the newest Panera in the Bradenton-Sarasota area.

The new Panera, 215 N. Cattlemen Road, will have the company's new table service program, have outdoor seating, free WiFi and a private room. Panera is also one of the retailers and restaurants supporting the new Apple Pay service for iPhone 6 users to pay in lieu of a credit card.

Panera will be open 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. 

“We are thrilled to open our newest bakery-cafe in Sarasota at UTC,” said Michael Flewelling the Operations Partner for the local Panera Bread franchisee, Harmony Food Service. “Our concept has been embraced by many surrounding communities over the past 13 years, and we look forward to sharing our signature Panera warmth here at University Town Center.”

The University Town Center location will also offer Rapid Pick-Up where online/mobile orders can be placed up to five days in advance and then picked up at a shelf near the entrance after it is pre-paid.

Panera is also trying to be more health conscious as the company recently announced that by 2016 it will remove artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners and preservatives from its bakery-care food menu.

The UTC Panera will also participate in the Day-End Dough-Nation and Panera Cares Community Breadbox programs.

The Day-End Dough-Nation donates unsold bread and baked goods to help neighbors in need while the Community Breadbox are boxes at the registers where cash donations will benefit All Faith's Food Bank.

Half of the donations are used to help fund soup procurement and the other half is donated as cash to support the food banks’ efforts to provide quality, nutritious food to those in need.

For more information, call 941-556-5978.

Panera rolls out table tracking, rapid pick-up systems

The new Panera Bread table tracking system.

Panera Bread is adding table service without the tips at its Bradenton area restaurants.

Panera recently rolled out the company's Table Tracker and Rapid Pick-up systems at the 1520 Cortez Road location.

Instead of staff yelling out names and order numbers or trying to squeeze past a line of people waiting for their pager to buzz, customers are handed a coaster-like device at their tables. Each table has a tag with a sensor inside that communicates to the pager and the ordering system where you decided to sit down and where staff should bring the food.

It definitely helps eliminate the congestion at the pick-up counter and makes claiming a table easier, too.

So far, the Cortez Road location is the only one in the Bradenton area to have the Table Tracker feature, said David Ivey, district manager for Panera's franchisee Harmony Food Partners. More locations have plans to roll out the feature, including the new location on North Cattlemen Road scheduled to open in October, he said. Harmony operates the Panera cafes on Cortez Road, Tuttle Avenue/University Parkway and Gulf Gate's Sarasota Pavilion.

Panera also has cafes off of Bahia Vista and U.S. 41 in Sarasota plus on the corner of Bee Ridge and Cattlemen roads.

The five Bradenton-Sarasota area locations do offer the Rapid Pick-Up ordering system that allows for online orders to be placed and picked up on a shelf by the entrance.

Certain Panera locations also offer delivery and a feature with the smartphone app to order from your table, but the local restaurants do not have that feature yet. The individual delivery is unlikely here, but the ordering system is a possibility.

Panera is also opening a new restaurant on North Cattlemen Road in October across from the Mall at University Town Center. The restaurant plans to hire 40-50 people and conduct interviews Aug. 8 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Aug. 9 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Center for Culinary Arts, Keiser University, 6151 Lake Osprey Drive, Sarasota.