I wouldn't be surprised if the real goal was to make customers spend less time sitting around. In the last year or two, I've noticed Panera has been playing godawful music that makes it nearly impossible to sit down, relax, and work on something. It works of course, but now I just don't go at all.
Almost every Panera I've been in was poorly run. Poor service and bad, old coffee more often than not. SF at 4th and King was the lone exception.
Perhaps. I don't drink coffee, I liked their fruit smoothies, and bagels are bagels. The music used to be generic enough (probably something quiet and instrumental but I honestly cannot recall) that it was not something I registered, but more recently they've played loud country/pop (observed in both Massachusetts and Maryland) that I now avoid them.