Panera Bread introduces Alexa voice ordering for pick-up and delivery

The adoption of Amazon Alexa ordering is the latest move by Panera Bread to improve the convenience of its sales channels | Photo credit: Panera Bread

Panera Bread has announced that MyPanera loyalty members can now order for pick-up or delivery via Amazon’s Alexa on Echo Show smart speakers. 
 

The JAB Holding-backed food-to-go and coffee chain said the move provides MyPanera customers with additional convenience, with orders placed via voice or touch rather than the Panera app.  

“While our guests love the Panera app, we know there are times where it’s just more convenient to be hands-free and order by voice, and we are thrilled to work with Amazon to design and offer another convenient way to order Panera. We’re continuing to push the boundaries of what we can do to make our MyPanera members’ lives easier, and we’re just at the beginning of what is possible in the world of conversational commerce,” said George Hanson, Chief Digital Officer, Panera Bread. 

To start ordering via Alexa, MyPanera members need to have a stored payment method on their Echo Show device, plus an address in their MyPanera account for delivery. 

Mark Yoshitake, Director of Alexa Skills at Amazon, said Panera Bread is the first food and beverage operator to use its Alexa Food Skills API. 

The integration of Amazon Alexa is the latest move by Panera Bread to provide customers with greater convenience via digital channels. 

In August 2022, Panera Bread began trialing artificial intelligence technology in select New York drive-thru stores to maximise efficiency and increase speed of orders.   

The food-to-go and coffee chain, which operates more than 2,100 bakery cafés across the US, also launched its first ‘urban’ format store in November 2022 in response to an increasingly digital and off-premise customer-base. 

Additionally, Panera Bread has commenced the rollout of Amazon One palm recognition technology as a loyalty identification for MyPanera members. The bakery café chain has deployed the contactless payment method at select outlets across Missouri and said it will begin nationwide adoption of the technology in the coming months.