Pay What You Can for New Item at Saint Louis Bread Co.

Thank you to Panera Bread for sharing this information with the community. Much of the following news comes from a March 27 news release. If you have news you also would like to share, please contact Maggie Rotermund at maggie.rotermund@patch.com.

Three years ago, Panera Bread and the Panera Bread Foundation embarked on a social experiment – the Panera Cares Community Cafes. These locations are non-profit cafes of shared responsibility with no set prices, just suggested donation amounts. One of the Community Cafes is located in downtown Clayton.

Now, according to a press release, the company is launching a Panera Cares menu item in all 48 metropolitan-area Saint Louis Bread Co. bakery-cafes.

The “Meal of Shared Responsibility,” as the item is called, is Turkey Chili in a Sourdough Bread Bowl. It has no set price and provides a delicious, wholesome entree, with dignity, to anyone – regardless of their means.

“When we launched our community cafe concept three years ago, skeptics thought that too many people would take advantage and too few would share in the responsibility of sustaining the effort,” said Ron Shaich, founder, chairman, and co-CEO of Panera Bread and president of the Panera Bread Foundation in the release. “But there are now five non-profit community cafes across the country and they’re all working. They elevate the issue of food insecurity, they offer a vehicle for those with the means to help those with a need, and they help nourish their local communities. Based on their success, we feel confident in attempting this escalation of our efforts against hunger and challenging the St. Louis community to take care of each other.”

To do so, the Saint Louis Bread Co. cafes will offer three payment options for the Meal of Shared Responsibility. First, a customer may pay the suggested amount ($5.89). Second, if a customer has the means, they may pay more to help cover the cost of the meal for someone who cannot afford to pay. Third, if a customer has the need, they may pay what they can.

“We are launching the Meal of Shared Responsibility because we know that one in six Americans – over 50 million people nationwide – are food insecure, meaning they have limited or uncertain access to adequate food. That includes more than a quarter million people in St. Louis,” Shaich said. “While this meal will obviously not eradicate hunger in St. Louis, we believe it’s a step in the right direction. We’re calling it our Meal of Shared Responsibility because we’re asking our communities to join together to share in the responsibility of paying it forward to help their neighbors.”

Panera Bread decided to launch this program in St. Louis where the company has its roots, its headquarters and where the first Panera Cares community cafe opened.

The Meal

For the Meal of Shared Responsibility, Panera Bread was looking for an item that was nutrient-dense, delicious and self-contained. The Turkey Chili in a Sourdough Bread Bowl met those criteria. Based on the FDA’s recommended 2,000 calorie diet, it provides 56 percent of the recommended daily value of fiber and 34 percent of the recommended daily value of protein. 

The chili is made with all-natural, antibiotic-free turkey and garbanzo and kidney beans, cooked in a turkey broth with tomatillos, corn, Pasilla Negro and Ancho chilies, cumin, edamame, diced onion, carrot, garlic, and green chilies. Serving the chili in a bread bowl complements the nutritional content and makes the dish a meal in itself.  

Panera Bread has worked to help combat the problem of hunger for 25 years, since it began donating unsold bread and baked goods to local organizations. Under its Day-End Dough-Nation program, Panera bakery-cafes nationally last year donated a retail value of approximately $100 million worth of unsold bread and baked goods to help neighbors in need. 

The Panera Bread Foundation currently operates five Panera Cares community cafes in St. Louis, Detroit, Portland, Chicago and Boston. The Foundation estimates that, in 2013, more than one million people will be fed at these locations, which allow customers to enjoy a full Panera meal with dignity and respect by donating what they can afford.

In addition, through the Panera Cares Community Breadbox program, the company matches a portion of dollars donated by customers in the bakery-cafes and the funds are donated to support local hunger initiatives. University City-based Operation Food Search receives the funds in St. Louis. 

Panera Bread also has a national alliance with Feeding America, the nation’s leading anti-hunger organization, through which participating member food banks in more than 75 U.S. markets are able provide the same soup served in Panera’s cafes to local food pantries and other organizations serving those in need. Half of the Community Breadbox donations are used to help fund this soup procurement program. The other half is donated as cash to support participating food banks in their efforts to provide quality, nutritious food.

Panera also recently launched a social media campaign called “Food Chain Reaction” to raise awareness about the issue of food insecurity. Panera’s customers are encouraged to join with others to create online circles of five friends on a Food Chain Reaction platform on Panera’s Facebook page. For every circle of five friends formed, Panera will work with its Foundation to provide a bowl of its Low-Fat Vegetarian Black Bean soup to a person in need through its alliance with Feeding America. The goal is to donate up to 500,000 bowls of soup to help those in need.

See more on Panera:

• St. Louis Bread Co. Expands Sunset Hills Headquarters
• Try St. Louis Bread Co.'s Diet-Friendly Secret Menu Items