Wireless Boosts Panera Revenue

Panera Bread Co. was the first restaurant in the area to provide free wireless Internet service. The Panera locations in Fayetteville, Bentonville and Fort Smith all went wireless in the summer of 2004.

Briana Kelley, manager of the Panera in Fayetteville, said the wireless Internet probably accounts for most of that store’s 14 percent sales increase in 2005. Sales were up 22 percent in October alone, she said.

“They love it,” she said of Panera’s customers. “We have a lot of people that just camp out here and do their work here instead of the office.”

Kelley said the wireless service keeps customers in the restaurants during “chill times,” the lull between meals. While Web surfing between meals, customers tend to order other items, such as pastries and coffee. Panera’s Internet service is provided through the corporation.

U.S. Pizza Co. in Fayetteville started providing wireless Internet three months ago. Manager Kandus Mayberry said it’s popular with students from the University of Arkansas and businesspeople in the Dickson Street area.

“It’s not filling our dead time,” she said. “It’s just adding [customers] to it.”