Panera Bread is among the first restaurant chains to trial Amazon's palm-reading technology for payments during checkout.
Panera is launching the biometric scanners at two restaurants in its
hometown of St. Louis, Missouri, with plans to expand to 20 more
locations in the coming months.
- The "Amazon One" palm-reading technology lets customers scan their palms to pay for purchases and track their loyalty points.
- At
Panera, customers will have to link their MyPanera membership with an
Amazon One account, which requires a credit card or other payment system
on file.
- The chain chose Amazon's technology because it’s
contactless and requires customers to voluntarily opt-in, according to
George Hanson, Panera's SVP and chief digital officer.
- People
can't be identified by their palm scans alone, he said. “All of those
things are the reasons why we think this particular technology solution
is safe, secure, and very guest-centric."
- Amazon has already deployed the palm readers at some Amazon-owned Whole Foods locations, Amazon Go stores, and certain sports stadiums and venues.
- The company says the palm scans are encrypted when sent to a secure and “custom-built area in the cloud."
