Juliana Kim
Published on March 28, 2023
This palm reader will not be able to tell your fortune, but it will figure out if you are part of Panera’s loyalty program.
Over the next few months, the bakery-café chain will roll out scanners that can access customers’ credit card and loyalty account using their palm. The biometric-gathering technology, developed by Amazon and called Amazon One, is already popular in airports, stadiums and Whole Foods Market grocery stores. Panera is expected to become the first national restaurant company to use it.
Panera Bread CEO Niren Chaudhary said in a press release last week that the contactless payment method is meant to serve as a convenience. But there has been growing concern about palm-recognition technology.