An indication is posted on the outside of a Panera Bread restaurant on November 09, 2021 in Novato, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
Panera Bread is piloting Amazon’s palm-scanning technology in St. Louis to supply customers a faster option to connect with their loyalty program and pay.
The bakery-cafe chain, which has long been considered a pacesetter in restaurant technology, is the newest restaurant to make use of what the tech giant has dubbed Amazon One. It’s already been implemented in dozens of Amazon-owned Whole Foods locations, Amazon Go stores and a few stadiums and arenas.
Panera has greater than 2,000 locations and its loyalty program has greater than 52 million members, representing a giant expansion opportunity for Amazon One. A representative for Amazon declined to share data on existing signups for the palm-based payment system.
For now, Panera’s starting small, with just two company-owned restaurants in its hometown of St. Louis.
“We predict the payment plus loyalty identification is the key sauce that may unlock a extremely personalized, warm and efficient experience for our guests in our cafes,” Panera Chief Digital Officer George Hanson told CNBC.
Panera is seeking to expand the test to 10 to twenty more restaurants over the following few months, including some operated by franchisees, in line with Hanson.
The palm scanners are positioned near the restaurant’s registers. To make use of them, customers have to link their loyalty program accounts to Amazon One, which they will do at home or contained in the restaurant. They’ll also have to enable loyalty identification and payment for his or her accounts.
Privacy concerns
Amazon has faced some backlash from consumers and privacy experts for its use of biometrics, which use biological measurements to discover someone. An Amazon Go customer filed a lawsuit Thursday in Recent York, alleging the retailer broke the town’s law that requires it to post signs informing customers that it’s using facial recognition.
Security experts have warned that even palm scans is usually a risk because that data is stored within the cloud. Last March, Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado dropped Amazon One from the venue after privacy groups pushed it to reconsider.
But Hanson said Panera selected Amazon’s technology for 3 reasons: it’s contactless, customers must opt in, and an individual cannot be identified by their palm alone.
“All of those things are the explanation why we predict this particular technology solution is protected, secure and really guest centric,” he said.
For its part, Amazon says that palm images are encrypted and sent to a secure, “custom-built area within the cloud” where the corporate creates a singular palm signature.
This marks Amazon’s second tech collaboration with a big restaurant company. Starting in late 2021, it began opening pickup cafes with Starbucks using its Amazon Go cashierless technology. Like Panera, the coffee chain has been on the lookout for latest ways for purchasers to choose up their food and drinks quickly and conveniently.
Panera’s tech investments and popular loyalty program may make it more attractive to investors. The restaurant company is currently privately owned by JAB Holding, the investment arm of the Reimann family.
Last 12 months, JAB attempted to take the chain public again through a take care of restaurateur Danny Meyer’s special purpose acquisition company and an initial public offering, but it surely fell through as a result of rocky market conditions.
Nonetheless, The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this 12 months that Panera is once more eyeing an IPO, so long as investors have an appetite for one.
