Since the Food and Drug Administration won’t set down hard-and-fast rules on non-medical antibiotic use in farm animals, it’s up to the farmers and the companies who buy the most meat to make a change that will cut down on the use of drugs that result in bigger cows, pigs, and chickens, but also put us all at risk for drug-resistant pathogens. [More]
panera
Florida Panera Customers Sent To The Hospital After Pepper Spray Incident
By 9.26.14
Generally when you think of a group of customers getting sick while visiting a restaurant, your mind automatically goes to the food. But that’s not always the case, as evidenced by a recent pepper spray incident at a Sarasota Panera. [More]
Coffee Rankings Are Personal, But In Wi-Fi Starbucks Beats McDonald’s And Panera Hands-Down
By 8.7.14
Heading out for some breakfast and a cup of coffee? Excellent. For quality food and drink, your choices are wide, wide open. But if what you really want is some sweet free Wi-Fi, you may want to skip that chocolate chip bagel from Panera and head across the street to Starbucks for a frappuccino instead. [More]
Colorado, Florida Residents Really Love “Fast Casual” Restaurants
By 8.26.13
“Fast casual” is that vague food industry term for eateries that nicer than your typical fast food joint but aren’t really what you would consider sit-down restaurants. They’re the kind of place where you often get lunch at a counter, but the food and service are generally better [Think Chipotle or Panera]. It’s been a growth segment in an industry that’s been somewhat flat in recent years, and according to a new survey, six of the 10 most dense fast casual populations are in either Colorado or Florida. [More]
Panera Expanding Pay-What-You-Want Model To All Of St. Louis, But Only On One Item
By 3.27.13
It’s been three years since sandwich chain Panera opened its first pay-what-you-want eatery, where customers can disregard the listed menu price and pay what they can afford or what they feel the meal is worth. The company soon added others in a handful in other cities. Now the eatery says it is expanding the model to all 48 Paneras in and around St. Louis, though it will only involve one menu item. [More]
How Do Restaurants Publicize Their Secret Menus?
By 2.21.13
If you’re trying to cut back on your carbohydrate intake, a quick-serve restaurant with the word “Bread” in its name probably isn’t one of your top choices for lunch. What if you knew that the chain Panera has a whole special menu for people like you, full of chicken, steak, hummus, and avocados, without a crumb of bread in sight? Only you probably don’t know, because the dishes are on a not-very-secret secret menu that Panera introduced last year. [More]
Quick-Serve Ads Vs. Reality: Panera Roasted Turkey And Cranberry Sandwich
By 10.9.12
Anderson tried a seasonal offering at Panera, the Roasted Turkey and Cranberry sandwich. The promotional photos made it look appetizing, but the sandwich that ended up on Anderson’s plate wasn’t. We know that speed is really important at Panera, and maybe this is just a hastily-assembled meal. Anderson decided to throw it away, leave the Panera, and then complain online. This plan was somewhat flawed. [More]
Some Residents Claim Pay-What-You-Can Panera Is Hurting Neighborhood
By 10.3.12
Over the last couple years, the folks at Panera have slowly been expanding their pay-what-you-can Panera Cares eateries beyond the initial experiment in Missouri. But the latest Panera Cares, located in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood, is drawing some jeers from local residents who say the restaurant is attracting an undesirable element. [More]
Brooklyn Restaurant To Try "Pay What You Want" Model
By 10.20.11
The restaurant business is incredibly risky, especially in a city like New York with its fickle diners and over-the-top overhead costs. But that’s not stopping a restaurant in Brooklyn from going ahead with plans to try out the whole “pay what you want” model for a month. [More]
Panera Planning To Add More Pay-What-You-Want Restaurants
By 6.27.10
A month ago, Panera Bread Co. opened its first non-profit, pay-what-you-can-afford eatery, called the Saint Louis Bread Company Cares Café, in Clayton, MO. And the restaurant chain’s chairman is so happy with the results, the company plans to launch two more in the coming months. [More]
Customer "Damn," Your Order Is Ready
By 4.1.10
Dan’s name is Dan, but Panera seems to have heard differently, as evidenced by this receipt. “We all had a good laugh,” Damn, oh damn, I mean, Dan, writes. [More]
Panera Bread Customer Service Rises To The Occasion
By 9.2.08
On 8/26/08 I stopped by my local Panera Bread [in Waterloo Iowa] after work to pick up dinner for my wife and I. We’ve always been very pleased with the level of service and quality of food we’ve received from Panera in the past. Last night however was a slightly different experience…
Panera Bread Employees Now Offer Nutritional Advice, Insults Instead Of Soup
By 2.20.08
First it was breast reduction advice, now it’s weight management tips, this time from a rude Panera Bread employee who didn’t like being confronted by an angry customer. Here’s what happened to Jeff’s wife when she tried to buy some chicken noodle soup the other day:
