Panera Bread To Test Self-Serve Coffee Program

Imagine getting your coffee and not having to talk to anyone. No fake pleasantries with a cashier, no squinting to see if you want light roast or dark and no fumbling around with your credit card as you swipe when you're supposed to insert. (Weird things happen before you have your daily java.) Sounds like a great future, right? Getting your morning joe without speaking to another soul is Panera Bread's latest vision. The fast-casual restaurant plans to test out a self-serve coffee program that lets guests pay for their coffee with the Panera app without expending the early morning energy of ordering their beverage at a kiosk or register.

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According to Nation's Restaurant News, the "Panera Tap" test (as it's being called) will start at Panera restaurants in the Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, market next month. Coffee stations will feature a code customers will use to pay for their drink by plugging it into the Panera app. Panera told The Daily Meal that their new program will only be available for hot coffee and will not include its recently announced cold brew.

That's not the only changes coming to the way you caffeinate at Panera. According to QSR Magazine, the cafe chain will also start grinding whole beans in house as well as roll out two new coffees including a light and a dark roast, which will reach restaurants nationwide late this summer.

That's not all Panera has been doing to upgrade their morning breakfast routine. The brand is also introducing three breakfast wraps with new filling combos: chipotle chicken, egg and avocado; Mediterranean egg whites; and maple-glazed bacon, egg and cheese. With all this new start-of-day news, Panera Bread may be making an effort to become one of America's best coffee chains.