SS
sergei schippa
Jun 28, 2026
This was, without question, the worst experience I’ve ever had at a Panera Bread.
Sunday June 28th at around 1:30pm My parents and I stopped in to use our Sip Club memberships. We checked in at the kiosk and waited at the pickup counter for our cups. When my mom simply commented, “Oh, it’s a large cold cup,” the employee helping us (April) snapped back in an extremely rude tone, saying, “I WAS TRYING TO READ WHAT WAS ORDERED.” The response was completely unnecessary and unprofessional for such an innocent comment.
A few moments later, we discovered the iced tea was empty. When we politely let her know, she responded with more attitude, saying, “It’s gonna be 5 minutes, so you’ll need to wait! We have to brew it so it takes time.” Again, it wasn’t what she said—it was the way she spoke to customers.
Thankfully, another employee, Finn, immediately stepped in. Without hesitation, he offered to check the drive-thru, found iced tea there, and brought my mom a full cup. He solved the problem in less than a minute with kindness and professionalism.
We made sure to ask for both employees’ names (of course April put on a whole “hi I’m April nice to meet you” in an extremely snarky tone) because the difference in customer service was night and day. Finn deserves recognition for going above and beyond—not only helping us, but stepping in to fix a situation that never should have escalated. He represented Panera exactly how customer service should be.
Unfortunately, April’s attitude throughout the interaction was rude, dismissive, and confrontational. After my mom commented that customer service should be more like Finn’s, April responded with yet another disrespectful remark instead of attempting to de-escalate the situation.
We visit Panera frequently, especially the Plymouth location, where we’re always treated with courtesy and respect. This visit in Fenton was completely out of character for the Panera experience we’ve come to expect.
Management should recognize Finn for his outstanding customer service and address the behavior we experienced from April through additional customer service training. One employee made us feel unwelcome, while the other saved the experience.