628194 Mon Jun 15 16:11:45 -0700 2009 30 32 Chains 0 4775499 I just learned that one of their stores is moving into my neighborhood. I've looked at their on-line menu and it seems like a good addition. Any strong opinions about the quality of their bread, sandwiches or drinks? Mon Jun 15 16:11:45 -0700 2009 292426 trimtab 1 4775534 Panera began life as St. Louis Bread Co., with stores located only in St. Louis. Later they spread across Missouri, then to other places, under the Panera name. My daughter, who went to college in St. Louis, liked Bread Co. very much as a place to have some coffee or a light lunch while she studied or just hung out. I've eaten at a couple of the Panera stores around LA (Santa Monica and Westchester), and found both serviceable. I like their soups, and their bread is more than OK -- not La Brea Bakery, but pretty good. Mon Jun 15 16:25:47 -0700 2009 4775499 76480 ozhead 2 4777837 Panera did not begin life as St. Louis Breadco. They purchased St. Louis Bread co. They began life as Au Bon Pain Co- From their web site- Our History The Panera Bread legacy began in 1981 as Au Bon Pain Co., Inc. Founded by Louis Kane and Ron Shaich, the company prospered along the east coast of the United States and internationally throughout the 1980s and 1990s and became the dominant operator within the bakery-cafe category. In 1993, Au Bon Pain Co., Inc. purchased Saint Louis Bread Company, a chain of 20 bakery-cafes located in the St. Louis area. You are not the first person to say they began as St. Louis Breadco. I am not sure why people have that impression. FOTD Tue Jun 16 09:51:43 -0700 2009 4775534 107184 FriendOfTheDevil 3 4778123 Maybe because the St. Louis Bread Co. locations converted to Panera locations: "The company then managed a comprehensive re-staging of Saint Louis Bread Co. Between 1993 and 1997 average unit volumes increased by 75%. Ultimately the concept's name was changed to Panera Bread." Au Bon Pain locations remains in their original form. Tue Jun 16 10:49:29 -0700 2009 4777837 202198 ferret 4 4783025 Au Bon Pain is also a separate company after 1999 and was taken over by its management in 2005. http://www.aubonpain.com/aboutus/ The original company took the new name Panera instead. It's a weird history, really, since what happened was it seems in a nutshell: ABP bought St Louis Bread, essentially decided that the basis of the St Louis Bread concept was better suited for big expansion than their own original ABP concept, and went forward with that purchased concept as Panera while leaving ABP as it was and eventually divesting it. Panera does have about 4x as many locations these days, but the concepts seem similar apart from how the service goes. Panera is a behind the counter fast casual ordering with checkout at the beginning; ABP has gone to quite a lot of self service in most locations, with checkout after you pick up everything (even if you get something made from behind the counter). I've grown tired of Panera, only been a couple times in the last few years. I still go to ABP occasionally as there's one near the office. In our area (Pittsburgh). corporate-owned ABPs are only downtown and Paneras are almost exclusively in the suburbs (zero in the main biz district, a couple in the university area). Wed Jun 17 19:10:27 -0700 2009 4778123 40162 CrazyOne 1 4775540 panera is for those folks who don't mind partially hydrogenated oils (i.e. transfats) to be an ingredient in baked goods. Mon Jun 15 16:28:29 -0700 2009 4775499 11935 westsidegal 2 4778149 That's not at all true: http://www.qsrmagazine.com/articles/news/story.phtml?id=4884 If you pull up the various nutritional pdfs on their website you'll see zero trans fats in all but some dairy products. Definitely not in their baked goods. Tue Jun 16 10:55:50 -0700 2009 4775540 202198 ferret 3 4779607 good to hear bc i was starting to get upset, i love their sourdough but was certainly not going to continue my obsession if it was all packed with random garbage Tue Jun 16 18:08:12 -0700 2009 4778149 18598 shoelace 3 4784496 when they first opened in westchester, i asked at the store for their ingredient information. transfat was in much of their stuff at the time. according to the article you've cited they removed the transfat later on. it's interesting to me that they didn't post anything in their stores about the removal of the transfat. thanks for the valuable information! Thu Jun 18 09:48:08 -0700 2009 4778149 11935 westsidegal 1 4775569 It's absolutely nothing special but good in a clutch. There's a Panera and a Baja Fresh next to my office and I always find myself going to Baja when I'm hungry and have no plans. Mon Jun 15 16:36:44 -0700 2009 4775499 155500 ExtraCheesePlease 1 4775892 I really like their new breakfast sandwiches. The way they cook their egg and the vermont white cheddar just does it for me. Their other food items are decent, better than a lot of fast food but not as good as some. Mon Jun 15 18:13:05 -0700 2009 4775499 73722 RobynS 2 4778133 Ditto on the breakfast sandwich - it's a much better Egg McMuffin. Their other offerings are pretty good. Tue Jun 16 10:51:46 -0700 2009 4775892 202198 ferret 1 4781408 I moved from New York to Florida in 2003 and have been unable to duplicate New York bread - Panera is one of the best in Florida compared to what else is offered. Their sandwiches and salads are pretty good overall. Wed Jun 17 10:37:14 -0700 2009 4775499 168535 annemarie07 2 4796914 I actually love their baguette. However, I cannot stomach their sanwiches and find them overpriced to boot. I forgot what it was called but the vegetarian sammi that was supposed to have hummus had the tiniest shmeer that it was almost nonexistent. I've had a "turkey" sandwich that tasted like processed turkey- the kind you'd find at subway. Blech. Their soups- nothing special,; usually oversalted and underspiced. Their salads- the plate first of all is annoying; I can never mix the salad properly because it keeps spilling over the sides. The salads are ok- but again, nothing memorable. Mon Jun 22 22:12:25 -0700 2009 4781408 16149 NicoleFriedman 2 4797481 Anne Marie, Another ex-NYer now living on the the space coast that thinks what passes as Rye bread down here is a sad, cruel joke! Tue Jun 23 06:32:05 -0700 2009 4781408 15712 cavandre 1 4791399 their bread and soups are good, but their sandwiches lack variety, the tuna is too sweet and they don't carry enough vegetarian options in sandwich varieties. Sat Jun 20 21:00:31 -0700 2009 4775499 22559 smartie 2 4797819 I've never checked the nutritional data, but every time I eat one of their sandwiches, a couple hours later I have a blood sugar spike, or drop, or whatever that thing is where you get lightheaded, weak and feel extremely hungry. This suggests to me that all or at least most of their food is loaded with added sugar. I hate when that happens, because I want to know (and enjoy!) when I'm eating a ton of sugar--in the form of a pastry, dessert or candy bar. Tue Jun 23 08:12:40 -0700 2009 4791399 21777 Emm 1 4816377 I really like their asiago cheese bread and bagels. And I like their passionfruit iced tea. Mon Jun 29 17:07:47 -0700 2009 4775499 219993 LA Buckeye Fan 2 4823100 I'll see your asiago demi-baguette and bagels, and raise you the 3-cheese demi-baguette, which is also reason to go to Panera. Other than that, the breads are run-of-the-mill, pastries look better than they are. I like that they put sprouts and red onion on sandwiches, and though I like their tuna salad, think that mustard (which is automatic on sandwiches unless you say nay) has no place in THAT sandwich. Wed Jul 01 19:20:25 -0700 2009 4816377 159317 greygarious 2 4824329 I love the asiago cheese breads too.... Thu Jul 02 08:50:24 -0700 2009 4816377 85738 libgirl2 1 4816431 Many years ago, this was a halfway decent chain. No more. Their salads are soggy and limp, their soups overly salty, and their sandwiches laden with more fat than you can imagine. None of it tastes good. Stay away! Mon Jun 29 17:27:04 -0700 2009 4775499 11995 pikawicca 2 4824556 "None of it tastes good" is painting with a pretty broad brush and your generalizations are a little over the top. There's one near my office and we visit every now and then and I can't agree with any of your statements. Thu Jul 02 09:54:51 -0700 2009 4816431 202198 ferret 3 4827300 I agree ferret -- and usually I agree with pikawicca. Almost EVERY fast/casual chain has food loaded with fat and salt. These two ingredients send you away feeling full, and that is their goal. It is up to us as individuals to say "hold the cheese and mayo" and control what we consume. You can eat light and healthy at Panera, and just about anywhere else, if you choose wisely. Personally, I like Panera -- there is one near my office, and a co-worker's wife works there, so she will often deliver to us and when she does, she adds a few of those big cookies at no charge. Their food is fresh, the breads are basically pretty good, and some day I will try a salad -- Im too easily swayed towards the sandwiches. Fri Jul 03 09:18:12 -0700 2009 4824556 102895 Cheflambo 1 4836382 I really like Panera. It gets a bad rap a lot of the time but it's really quite good. No this is not a great sandwich but it is a damned fine one. DT Tue Jul 07 09:25:27 -0700 2009 4775499 11291 Davwud 1 4837234 i love their turkey artichoke panini. Tue Jul 07 13:47:24 -0700 2009 4775499 181498 littlew1ng 1 4839869 I'm most fond of their salads. Their summer feature salads (Chicken Cobb this summer) are usually pretty good. Some of the bread is great, some just so/so. It's an excellent lunch spot though, quick, something decent, and if you hold dressing/customize, not too bad for you. Wed Jul 08 10:44:48 -0700 2009 4775499 13605 AnnieG 1 4845222 I have sort of a love/hate thing going on with Panera. I find that lunch is on the pricey side if you want a salad or sandwich, so I'm usually a soup girl. I do enjoy many of their soups - my current favorite being French Onion. For a "fast food" type place, I think it's done fairly well. Stay away from the lemonade or frozen lemonade - the latter being nothing more than a glorified Slurpee for $3+ bucks. Thu Jul 09 21:40:50 -0700 2009 4775499 277650 toopickytobeafoodie 2 4849160 If you customize their sandwiches/salads (and stay away from the ultra carby bread options), it can be fairly healthy. However, those soups have so much salt in them! Sat Jul 11 10:43:32 -0700 2009 4845222 18011 Jacey 1 4847074 Panera is a great lunch or quick/light dinner spot. I usually get the pick-two option and lately my choices are the forest mushroom and cobb salad or the forest mushroom and turkey bacon bravo sandwich. I think they are a little overpriced, but although I love a burger joint, its not practical or healthy to eat that way when you don't have time to cook. I also like thier breakfast bakes. The spinach artichoke has the best flavor! Have yet to try a breakfast sandwich, they look small and not that filling. They have yummy danishes and the cobblestone muffins are like a dessert. The hidden gem of this place though is the cinna crunch bagel. If you know that is what your going to get (its a good at any time of the day...its just soooo good) you should buy your own cream cheese though, bc at Panera it's like 2.99 in my area. The bagel is delish with the cheese, but also very good with just some butter. Fri Jul 10 12:32:55 -0700 2009 4775499 729068 cookieluvntasha 2 4848731 If you're concerned about healthfulness--which I'd assume means food relatively high in protein and fiber, low in sugars, simple carbs and fat--then it might be a good idea to check Panera's nutrition information on your favorites. I don't know if it's easily available online, since I quit eating there a year or two ago. They used to have it in the store in a big, three-ring notebook you can ask to look at. Sat Jul 11 06:49:26 -0700 2009 4847074 21777 Emm 1 4849191 I like their breads,...closest thing I've found to my homemade breads and a good (though pricey) substitute when I'm too busy to bake a loaf.. Some of the salads are interesting. I'm not all that crazy about their sandwiches even though they are not terrible . The soups are a different story...by and large pretty pedestrian, salty, often overthickened and starchy.. and I've learned to stay away from them completely. Sat Jul 11 11:05:22 -0700 2009 4775499 116047 The Professor