Au Bon Pain

On my last order, I had gotten a confirmation email that it went through. When I got to the location, they said they never got the order, even though I was charged. They were stumped after I showed them my email receipt. The staff were nice about it and apologized and gave me what I purchased, but the app was a waste of time.

The app looks great and worked well except: (1) I couldn't add a cold drink until after I had checked out- the only options available before checking out were coffees; and (2) I couldn't figure out if I was changing my existing order or making a duplicate order when, after I checked out, it asked if I wanted to add anything. This option listed all of the different drinks. Other than those two things, I liked it. The app lists the calories for most items and if you remove something, for example, you don't want avocado on your salad, it tells you how much to deduct from total calories. That's a very helpful function! My order was ready when I arrived and just as I had ordered.

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The order was ready for pickup within 8 minutes and I was so impressed with the system... Until I left and started eating my Med chicken salad to realize it was missing chicken! I went all the way back and instead of just giving me chicken (or even apologizing), they took back my salad, dumped it in their silver mixing bowls and added chicken. I was like- “I already ate out of that. That’s not clean” which they ignored as they dropped some of the lettuce out on their countertops contaminating the area. I’m sure it’s against regulations to take back food already touched by customers. It was lovely to skip the lines, but worrisome about the cleanliness. Oh and please don’t forget the main ingredient.

The app is not as efficient as the Starbucks app. Every time you place an order, it makes you select your credit card. It also makes you confirm your phone number. Two unnecessary steps that waste time. They should default in until you choose to change it. It could also give You more room for special instructions. Other than that, it is easy to navigate the menu choices and it will let you save a regular order.

I love this app. I can place my order from the train and my awesome location has my order ready and waiting for me to just grab and go. The only thing I'm not necessarily a fan of is having to put in my phone number every single time, but it only takes a second to get through that screen. Honestly I wish some other fast food places had apps like Au Bon Pain's.