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Panera Bread

Panera Bread4 posts

Panera Bread is a chain of bakery-café, fast casual restaurants that specialize in soups, salads, sandwiches, and fresh-baked goods. The company was founded by Louis Kane and Ron Shaich in 1981 under the name of Au Bon Pain, Co., Inc. The company was renamed Panera Bread in 1999, and its headquarters are located in St. Louis, Missouri.

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5 May, 2015

Banishing artificial ingredients

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The chain says that by the end of the next year, dozens of ingredients on its “No No List” will be banished from its menu. Some of the ingredients have already been removed, while others are in process. Shaich:

I want to serve everyone the food I want my daughter to eat. And if I feel uncomfortable about serving her some of this stuff, I don’t want anyone else to eat it…The scientific community and consumers get that food that is less processed and closer to a more natural state, made from the kind of ingredients that you can understand, are better for you….Part of where we’re trying to go, we want them to be able to trust that the food they get at Panera is clean, and not even have to think about it…The reality, like everything, is “hey, it may not help you,” all the way to “this could cause cancer.” I can’t answer that. I’m not involved in the science. But I am clear that I can make better food with less processing. So why not?