>> MASHA: For Panera Bread,
the necessary social distancing measures taken to combat the pandemic
fundamentally jeopardized their ability to serve their community.
To meet this business challenge,
they first had to address the human impact of these changes.
How were you feeling in that moment? How is your team feeling?
>> GEORGE: It was emotional hearing the stories in our cafes,
hearing the stories in the communities we serve.
We had to make really fast decisions around how we were going to pivot.
We were still able to filter all of our decisions through the principles of,
how do we protect our employees and our customers.
How do we protect the brand and then how do we emerge stronger.
We also took a step back and said what are the needs of our customers right now.
And like many of us they had challenges accessing grocery.
And each week the level of discomfort of physically going to a grocery store
really caused a lot of opportunity for us to help.
And so we within a couple of weeks,
made the decision that we are going to help open up our pantry
and start providing a grocery service.
>> MASHA: But with 39 million My Panera members,
the next challenge was communicating basic information
about the cafes to their customers.
Information like when is my local cafe open?
What services are provided?
And is drive thru pick up available?
>> GEORGE: Our KPIs were really about awareness and access to the customer
whenever they were searching for Panera or food near me.
And the Google Insights that the Google teams have provided has really shaped
how we have messaged to our customer.
>> MASHA: By listening to signals from their community,
Panera opened up a new ordering channel that captured dynamic customer demand
and positioned them for the next phase of recovery.
>> GEORGE: You don't always know if you're making the right decision.
The best you can hope for is that you're making the best decision.
And the best decisions usually are mostly connected with really rooted,
grounded principles and values that really transcend difficult times and challenging times.
