April 10, 2004
Panera: New Home of the Technorati
After reading some friends' blogs about working in public, I decided to try to get some grading done at my local Panera (chain bread bakery and sandwich/soup shop). After all, they now have free Wi-Fi (for real), fountain refills are free, and the seats are pretty cushy.
While there, I tended to be a little less efficient than I'd hoped. One of my great passions is watching people -- the things they do, wear, use, and say fascinate me -- so I tended to get distracted a fair bit. One thing I noticed was that Panera is starting to attract a really tech-savvy, sophisticated bunch. Here are some examples:
Guy A -- Sitting in his calf-skin jacket and appropriately faded baseball cap, this late-30's guy was totally decked out with fine gear. He had a Dell Latitude D800 notebook and a Samsung SPH-i500 smartphone. When he left, he got into his Mercedes SL600 (pictured), lowered the top, and sped off. While he certainly could be a child molestor or baby seal hunter, you have to admit the guy has good taste.
Guy 2 -- Tucked away in a corner of an otherwise unoccupied room of the store was this late 20's Asian dude dressed very slacker-hip. On the table in front of him was his 17" Apple Powerbook. Next to that was an Apple iPod (no, I didn't ask him what size) and he was using what looked like some Shure headphones. When he left, he hopped into his Audi TT Roadster (yeah, it was a really nice day here today).
Given that it was 4pm on a Saturday, the place wasn't very busy. However, based on just these few observations, I'd guess that free Wi-Fi tends to attract clientele with both good tech taste and decent salaries.
Posted by Craig | Permalink | TrackBackI go to Panera in Carlsbad, CA all the time.
I use a Pocket PC Phone or a Siemens SX 56 and my VPR Matrix. I drive a 300 zx Twin Turbo.
I don't consider myself anything special, I just like the food and WiFi.
Posted by Andy Abramson at April 11, 2004 01:06 AMAgreed. Given the gears you use and the car you drive, I think you could easily been the Guy 3. . .
Posted by Ken at April 12, 2004 09:12 AMHuh. I love Panera bread - the food/wifi combo is what makes it. I always seek one out when on the road. Unfortunately, I have no taste.
I live in a crappy but comfy home (the smallest, ugliest home in the quite possibly the best neighborhood in my town). I own a Toyota pickup with a blower, headers, race pipe, and All-Terrain T/As, which works well for crossing medians towards detours when the traffic is bad. I compute on a ten pound Dell C840 running RedHat. I don't own an iPod, and I use a Nokia 6820 in place of a $600 PDA.
I own everything, and owe nothing (besides my monthly AMEX bill). I spend a lot of time fishing, and am hard pressed to think I won't live until at least 90 years old.
I am glad I won't be "Guy 4."
Manny, there are many flavors of technorati, my friend. Given that you seek out free Wi-Fi, rationalize what you drive based on technical details, are fascile with Linux, and even know what model of phone you use, whose to say you aren't consistent with this group? My point wasn't that these guys are flashy (it's a limited sample...me, I was in cut-off shorts and a t-shirt at the time), just that they're all concerned with the technical details of the gadgets and tools they use on a regular basis. Sounds like you somewhat as well, eh? ;-)
Posted by Craig at April 12, 2004 11:30 AMHow fast is Panera wi-fi supposed to be?
I hit one a few months back, and it was crawlin' at what appeared to be about 100kbps. I tried to run the dslreports.com speed test, and it never successfully downloaded the javascript app.
Posted by Nick at April 12, 2004 12:06 PMNot all of the Panera Bread's offer free Wi-Fi. I live in the Metro Detroit area and regularly use the access at the Plymouth Panera to grab e-mail while at lunch or between client calls.
However, last week I was in the Ann Arbor (15 minutes from Detroit) area picking up a cell phone when I decided to pop into the Washtenaw Ave. Panera, grab a bagel, and download my e-mail. No signal. I asked one of the cashiers, and was told that due to the proximity to the college, and hence, the poor college students, this Panera did not, and would never, offer free access.
Posted by Greg Tranor at April 12, 2004 01:18 PMI'm not so sure about how reasonable that proximity-of-college-students argument is. As a student at Northwestern, I spend a lot of time hanging out at the Panera in Evanston, which has free WiFi... and is four blocks from my dorm. Now admittedly NU "poor college students" are rather less poor on average than "poor college students" most everywhere else, but I don't think that alone disqualifies the comparison.
Conclusion: Panera is stupid for not having the free WiFi. So what if college students flock there? It's still good for business. Try to subtly boot anyone who hasn't bought anything to eat, or could use a paid refresh of their product. That's what they do in Evanston, at least.
To change the topic (not very subtly): Does anyone else here know of anyplace with better coffee (i.e., coffee that isn't just marginally better than eating the dry grounds) in the general north-side area of Chicago with free WiFi?
Posted by Wes Meltzer at April 12, 2004 05:20 PMI called Panera HQ to see if free WiFi was coming to my local store. They said they plan to offer it in ALL their locations, but it will take about a year to roll it out everywhere.
Posted by Willis at April 12, 2004 08:34 PMPanera and WiFi makes sense. How about McDonald's and Wifi!?!
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,63046,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_6
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