Panera Bread is a hip, cool, little restaurant that popped up on my radar about two years ago. We first went to try it while I was recovering from my leg injury almost two years ago. The food was something akin to making your own sandwich at home but with nicer bread, I guess. I thought overall, it was clean but a little pricey for a sandwich place. We were lucky in that the one we go to is on Slaughter but way west, I think into Circle C so the "rich" to "poor" ratio has to be 1000 to 1. I just don't see the poor and/or homeless walking their HEB carts all the way over there, even for a free sandwich. Why should they? Plenty of "nice" (I really mean stupid) people will bring them money and food if they just stand on a street corner. I am still contemplating moving because you can't go anywhere in Southpark Meadows without seeing a handful of them meandering like zombies on the Walking Dead.
It seems that Panera Bread is now in trouble because maybe their heart was in the right place, they just didn't realize that moochers are never ending and just as I realized a couple years ago that helping the poor is like thinking that cutting your grass once will make your lawn look great all year. The poor are one group and they can be alright as long as they are trying and still have a roof over their head, I kind of respect them. The section 8 group is different, they are mooching off the government and again, if there is a goal maybe some schooling and there are some goals to get out of the situation, I say cool. The homeless and the rest of the section 8 people that are happy to just take and take without giving back, they are what is bringing society down. Panera Bread found this out in places like Portland where people have almost given up and are just looking to get by even if that means living on the street.
The ridiculous part is that Panera Bread thought it would be a good experience for the haves and have-nots to mingle in line together. This line of thinking is just stupid. If I approach a restaurant and it looks full of stinky bums, I am not going to eat there and I might not ever go back. The last time I tolerated sitting next to a bum was at Whataburger a few years ago with my family and for my efforts, the bum dropped his beer can which exploded and gave me a nice refreshing shower of what would have been his afternoon drink all over my back. The only good thing is that I am so fat and wide that I shielded my Wife and boys from getting beer on them, and the manager came over and gave us our meal for free and kicked out the bum.
I don't think Panera really meant to help the homeless, they set up shop only in upper middle class areas, like Circle C. If they were interested in reaching for the poor, build on the east side I-35 anywhere here in Austin. But then your parking lots wouldn't be filled with BMWs, Mini Coopers, Volvos, and Jags. They would be filled with old Fords and Dodges and guys named Jose using tape to keep their cars together while they picked up a free sandwich on the way home.
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