Panera Bread: The Clean and Charitable Choice
Traditionally, fast food has had a not-so-favorable reputation. It is calorie-packed, fat-loaded, and nutrient-lacking. The infamous show, Supersize Me, demonstrates the importance of a healthy diet by showing the effects of eating a month long diet of solely McDonald’s food. The stigma of extremely unhealthy food served in fast food restaurants is true in many case; however, there are healthier alternatives. Panera Bread is the best option of fast food restaurants because they have passion for serving healthy food and a desire to give back to the community.
On March 2nd, 2016, Health Magazine posted an article naming Panera Bread the #1 healthiest fast food restaurant in the United States
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Founded in 1981, Panera Bread was created while keeping in mind the goal of “a loaf of bread in every arm” (Price). To this day, they still live up to that standard. Through the Day-End Dough-Nation program, they donate food to many non-profit organizations, most of them focusing on ending hunger in impoverished areas. Every night, the bakery workers pack up the unsold bagels, breads, and pastries for donation to local charities (Prince). In order to help a wide variety of causes in the cafe’s own community, they have a link on their website for a charity to apply for donations (“In the Community”). In some cases, they even bake fresh items for the charities that they support. Stephen Heights, pastor of the Richmond Heights Church of the Nazarene, said that he was “blown away by the amount of goods they gave us”. He only expected a few boxes of leftover goods, but ended up leaving with six 30-gallon bags filled with leftover bagels, loaves of bread, and sweets. Sam Covelli, owner of three Panera locations, donated a retail value of $10.3 million in food through the program. They also donate to several other causes including the Panera Goes Pink program for breast cancer awareness, the Children’s Miracle Network, and Autism