The following announcement was provided by Hamra Enterprises:
Consumers in Watertown and surrounding areas now have the convenience of a new dining option with the opening of a Panera To Go location, fully enabled for digital convenience and Rapid Pick-Up®. The grand opening of the new location at 11 Mount Auburn Street was on July 11.
For Hamra Enterprises, a nationwide, family-owned restaurant operator headquartered in Springfield, Mo., this is the second Panera To Go location and the first in Massachusetts. It is the company’s 18th Panera location in Massachusetts, 91st Panera overall, and 195th across four brands: Panera Bread, Wendy’s, Noodles and Company, and Caribou Coffee. It is also the company’s second opening of a new Panera Bread location in the Boston area in the past month, following the opening of a bakery café at Boston Children’s Hospital on June 20.
The new Mount Auburn Street Panera To Go is a relocation from 321 Arsenal Street, which closed in June to transition to the new site. It will be open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sundays.
The new Panera To Go is a digital-only bakery café. The new format allows Panera to meet the demands of guests on the go, ordering on-site through kiosks and Rapid Pick-Up® or on the Panera app or website, making it optimal for customers ordering ahead.
“It has been our privilege to serve the Watertown community for the past 23 years, and we are excited to open this new, upgraded location to provide a better experience for our guests,” said Mike Hamra, CEO of Hamra Enterprises. “Watertown is a great community where people live, work and raise families and we are excited to continue to support people in their daily lives.”
About Hamra Enterprises
Hamra Enterprises is a dynamic organization owned and founded in 1975 by the Hamra family with its headquarters in Springfield, Missouri. It includes four restaurant brands with over 7,400 employees in 11 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, Mississippi, New Hampshire and Tennessee. Hamra Enterprises is committed to providing the highest quality products and services within the hospitality industry, creating exceptional experiences for people and communities by engaging each of its restaurant neighborhoods through community service, fundraising, and other philanthropic partnerships such as Boston Children’s Hospital, Make-A-Wish® of Illinois, Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption and St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. Since 2011, the greater Boston Panera Bread cafes, with the support of their guests, have donated $1 million to Boston Children’s Hospital Trust. For more information, visit hamraenterprises.com.
The Arsenal St location was a community meeting space where we would meet over coffee and lunch.
To Go doesn’t promote gathering. Won’t be getting my business.
How is it an “upgraded location”, when the number of tables went DOWN from roughly 20 to 0? Does Watertown want to be a drive-thru or a community?
I guess Panera’s was not doing enough business in the old location. Too bad – I did love that place, but some folks would park themselves there for hours with a computer. This will certainly save them money, and now they’re positioned to serve the future growing population of commuters in the Square. I’ll have to see how you pick up orders, but driving to that location is not great.
Expect fewer and fewer locally owned businesses and more of this in the future.
I agree – no cash payments? Probably no fireplace either. Old location had a nice ambiance for dining out. What about parking? Most likely won’t go…
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Agree with most of these around location now to go vs previous hang out..bummer. They must have a business plan with foot traffic as the main way to get customers(maybe too early but time will tell). I find it interesting as I would not seek out Panera food itself(possibly a bagel to go or salad to go?) unless I also was meeting up with someone to sit. I hope them all the best.
I agree as well. Panera is a large, successful company. I’m assuming that they do thorough market research. They’ve evaluated the planning that’s in progress for the Watertown Square area and see this as the successful business model for this location.
This new model is not a “reason to go to Watertown Square.” It’s a reason to pass through the Square. They’re marketing this for “people on the go.” (Mind you, all of the other locations serve “people on the go.” They also serve people who’d like to bring families and friends and sit for a while or business folks who’d like an informal, out of office meeting place). It’s a convenient commuter amenity. This sure is a symbol of things to come.