Panera Bread Co. has recently implemented a supposedly family friendly Internet browsing policy for at least some, if not all, of their 1168 bakery-cafes. This policy bans visiting sites such as YouTube, Blogger, PhotoBucket, and Imageshack.

Their policy seems normal enough at first, one must login, agree to their TOS (which basically gives them the right to do anything) and then the user is rerouted via a proxy service. Unfortunately, the coffee shop geek attempting to use Panera’s Wi-fi will no longer be able to visit little known sites like YouTube, Blogger, Photoshop, Imageshack, etc. Upon calling their tech support hotline I was told it was a filtering problem and the issue would be resolved within a matter of minutes. 5 hours later the problem persists. However, another individual called Panera on the 26th of January and was told that this policy was implemented in order to insure a family friendly environment for all of Panera’s users. Obviously, YouTube, Blogger, Imageshack, etc are hubs for nefarious individuals who are trying to insure the break down of the American Nuclear family.

According to Panera’s website:

“Panera Bread is expanding quickly across America, currently operating 1168 bakery-cafes in 40 states. Among these locations, 493 are company-owned and 675 are franchised. 170-180 new bakery-cafes (85-90 company-owned and 85-90 franchise) are targeted to open in 2007.”

A share of Panera’s stock is valued at 35.81 as of the posting of this blog 1/29/08.

Panera’s Total revenue for 2006 was 828.97 million dollars and their Total revenue for the quarter ending in September 2007 was 273.21 million dollars. Unfortunately for Panera, this revenue trend may slow if this censorship policy is continued.

Personally, I enjoy the ambience of Panera. Their locations, which I have visited many of, are pleasant, clean, and their staff is professional and courteous. However, their new policy may show the disconnect between their top level management and their everyday customer.

*This blog will be updated when and if Panera’s current policies change.

Update!!!

As of February 1st, 2008, Panera has reversed their policy and is now allowing its patrons to use YouTube, Blogger, Photobucket, Imageshack, etc. Behold the power of the blog!!!