Community Observation Progress

So far I have observed the community of the Panera Bread at the Derby Street Shoppes in Hingham on two separate occasions. Both times I sat quietly watching each member of the community. So far I have come up with a few generalizations about the Panera Bread community. First starters most of the people at Panera seem to be dressed for a job in business. Most of the men there are wearing collared shirts and ties, while the women mostly wear suits or dresses. I get the feeling that Panera is sort of a classy place compared to other sandwich shops like D'angelos where you might see more blue collar customs (construction workers, garbage men, etc). In addition I have come to realize that most of the customs at Panera bring in a laptop or a black berry so that they can complete their work while they eat. Already it was easy to see that technology plays a big role in the Panera Bread community. I also made other observations about the community, some observations had nothing to do with the individual customers but more of the environment that Panera has created for them. Next to the fountain soda machine at Panera is a bowl filled with lemon slices, so that customer can add lemon to their ice water or tea. This observation also seems to prove my generalization that Panera is trying to appear fancy or classy to its customers. The generalizations that I have made about the community have helped me to form my interview questions. I plan to ask members of the community what it is about Panera that they like, if they come to Panera for the Wi-Fi access to do their work, if they feel the prices are fair, and most importantly if they come to Panera for the unique menu and beverages and the little perks that Panera provides like the lemon slices. I feel that after my interviews I will have a better understanding of why these business men and women are drawn to Panera Bread at Derby Street.