The new downtown Panera location is scheduled to open on Tuesday! *YAY* Definitely couldn't come at a better time since we have officially shifted into winter mode, and soup in a bread bowl always helps.
All of us at work have been eagerly watching the progress since we are right across the street, and my friend Terri and I were surprised to see people actually inside on Friday at lunchtime. There hadn't been any grand opening announcement that we had heard, so we marched right down to see what was going on, and more importantly CAN WE GET SOME MAC N CHEESE??
We arrived at the doors to see a giant "DO NOT ENTER--TRAINING IN PROGRESS" sign. Bummer. But as fate would have it, one of the managers standing near the door saw us looking and invited us right in to help them practice. Well don't mind if we do!
We were given $15 in Panera money to spend on anything we wanted, since they were so grateful for us helping them practice. All in all a pretty sweet deal! We both got the mac n cheese (which is amazing if you have never tried it), a drink, cookie, and a couple of bagels for the weekend for breakfast. Definitely give them two thumbs up, the food was great and so was the atmosphere. Panera is definitely gonna be a hit downtown. Feelin' lucky we got a sneak peek before the mass hysteria hits on Tuesday.
Side note: The downtown Panera is at the corner of 10th and Walnut. Read more at www.paneraiowa.com/downtown or on Twitter @paneradowntown.
Our Panera play money. Isn't that the coolest thing ever?
View from our booth.
The chow.
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