Panera unveils a new menu on April 4th, and that's not the only big change they've got
cooking. There's frozen bread and the Charged Lemonade saga for starters. So, let's dive
into the evolution of Panera in 2024.
In 2023, Panera faced two wrongful death lawsuits alleging the company failed to provide adequate
labeling about the ingredients in Charged Lemonade.
"For context, you would have to drink 11½ cans of Coke to get an equal amount of caffeine."
Now, in 2024, Panera is confronting another legal challenge. A woman with no underlying
health conditions claims the Charged Lemonade has caused her ongoing heart issues.
After the initial lawsuits, some Panera cafes started sprucing up signage at the Charged
Sips self-serve fountains. More recently, some locations decided to move these fruity,
caffeinated beverages behind the counter. Now, if you're craving that zing, you'll have
to wait for an employee to personally jazz up your cup. Take a peek at the menu on Panera's
website, and you'll notice a little heads-up about the Charged Lemonade, clearly stating:
"Contains caffeine. Use in moderation. NOT RECOMMENDED FOR children, people sensitive
to caffeine, pregnant or nursing women."
Despite the ongoing legal battle, CNN suggests Panera might keep the drinks around to avoid
any suggestion that the drinks are dangerous.
Though the drinks now come with a warning about moderation, Panera's Unlimited Sip Club
charges a monthly fee for endless drinks, Charged Sips included. A Sip Club member can
order ahead and have their cup waiting. But the usual grab-and-go will no longer work
for Charged Sips — Panera's website now explains that:
"Any Charged Sips orders will be filled for you by an associate."
Loosen your belt buckles! Panera is rolling out four new hearty sandwiches on April 4th.
For those who think bacon is a love language, the new menu includes not one, but two sandwiches
that'll make your heart skip a beat. Meet the Chicken Bacon Rancher and the Tomato Basil
BLT. The Chicken Bacon Rancher features applewood smoked bacon, grilled chicken, aged white
cheddar, and ranch dressing on black pepper focaccia.
"The black pepper focaccia. This one, I love the lightness and airiness of the interior
and how the sauces just kind of fall into the little pockets in the bread."
As for the Tomato Basil BLT, enjoy applewood bacon, crisp mixed greens and vine-ripened
tomatoes, topped with garlic aioli, salt, and pepper, sandwiched between slices of tomato
basil bread.
But don't let the bacon duo steal the show before you meet the other two new sandwiches
— the Toasted Italiano and the Ciabatta Cheesesteak. The Toasted Italiano combines
Black Forest ham, soppressata and provolone , romaine, red onion, sliced pepperoncini
, garlic aioli, and Greek dressing on Panera's toasted French baguette.
The Ciabatta Cheesesteak, as its name suggests, is all about the cheese and steak — tender
marinated sliced steak, provolone, garlic aioli, caramelized onions, and zesty sweet
"Peppadew" peppers on ciabatta. It's Panera's take on the Philly Classic.
When it comes to ranking the best fast food mac and cheese, Panera Bread's is high on
the list. It's a bowlful of tender shell pasta in a blend of rich cheeses, including tangy
aged white cheddar sauce. Pro tip: if you're trying to copy Panera Mac & Cheese, high-quality
cheddar is key.
But to make this classic even better, how about bacon? Starting April 4th, Panera is
introducing a new twist on its comfort food classic by adding applewood smoked bacon to
the mix.
"Is this heaven?"
"Better. It's a Panera."
Bacon Mac & Cheese is by no means a new idea. It made a cameo back in 2018 for customers
using Panera Delivery. And for years, savvy customers have been customizing their Mac
& Cheese by adding bacon. But it's time to officially welcome Bacon Mac & Cheese to the
menu, so get ready to dive in fork-first.
Starting April 4th, Panera Bread is tossing a fresh batch of greens onto the menu. The
Southwest Chicken Ranch starts with romaine tossed in ranch, adds grilled chicken with
chipotle aioli, and tops it all off with avocado, grape tomatoes, fire-grilled corn, cilantro,
and blue corn tortilla chips. Meanwhile, in the Ranch Cobb Salad, you'll get romaine and
crisp mixed greens tossed in ranch dressing, grape tomatoes, pickled red onions, applewood
smoked bacon, feta, and a hard-boiled egg.
Panera's also mixing up the salad menu with grains. The Balsamic Chicken Greens with Grains
combines a whole grain blend of farro and red rice with romaine and mixed greens tossed
in balsamic vinaigrette. It's topped with cucumbers, pepperoncini peppers, avocado,
feta, pumpkin seeds, and Green Goddess dressing.
The Mediterranean Chicken Greens with Grains gathers that hearty grain blend, along with
romaine and mixed greens tossed in Greek dressing, grilled chicken, hummus, feta, red onions,
sweet Peppadew peppers, cucumbers. It's finished off with a dash of Panera's bold shawarma
seasoning, which includes cinnamon, cumin, ginger, coriander, allspice, turmeric, and
black pepper.
As part of Panera Bread's April 4th menu launch, five classic salads and seven sandwiches are
getting recipe updates. The salads slated for enhancement include the Green Goddess
Chicken Cobb Salad, Strawberry Poppyseed Chicken Salad, Caesar Salad with Chicken, Greek Salad
with Chicken, and Fuji Apple Chicken Salad. The latter was once voted Panera's least favorite
salad, perhaps because of its unusual ingredients — pecans, Gorgonzola, and apple chips. So
maybe a makeover will launch a Fuji Apple Chicken Salad comeback.
And then there are the sandwiches. Look for enhancements to the Grilled Chicken & Avo
BLT, Turkey & Cheddar Sandwich, Smokehouse BBQ Chicken, Spicy Buffalo Chicken Melt, Bravo
Club, Chipotle Chicken Avocado Melt, and Toasted Frontega Chicken. Toasted Frontega Chicken
has had a tumultuous history at Panera. At one point, It vanished from the menu, but
after serious public outcry, Panera brought it back.
The updated April 4th menu introduces nine new entrees, but flatbreads are getting the
boot. In an effort to entice the dinner crowd, Panera launched flatbread pizzas back in 2020,
during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the world craved pizza like never before. While most
of the restaurant industry struggled, pizza sales skyrocketed. Even frozen pizzas were
flying off the shelves. Panera's flatbread pizza lineup premiered with Cheese, Margherita,
and Chipotle Chicken & Bacon. In just a few weeks, millions of flatbreads sailed out of
Panera's kitchens, surpassing the company's expectations.
But the pizza boom didn't last, and it looks like Panera's attempt to moonlight as a flatbread
pizzeria is coming to an end. And maybe that's okay, since Panera found itself on the low
end in a ranking of restaurant chain flatbreads. It had a good run, but in the end, the effort
fell a bit flat.
Mayhem ensued when a viral TikTok video exposed soon-to-be discontinued Panera menu items.
And another scare garnered hundreds of comments on Reddit when a user posted a list of "menu
items leaving." The list is so long, you might need a Charged Lemonade to get through it.
Both the TikTok video and the list on Reddit include the Kitchen Sink Cookie. Listed among
the Panera fan favorites, this large shareable cookie has semi-sweet chocolate, milk chocolate,
caramel pieces, and pretzels, and is topped with a touch of flake salt.
But cookie lovers rejoice! As it turns out, the rogue lists were based on menu test runs
happening in a few select cafes. CNN swooped in like a superhero, confirming directly with
Panera that the Kitchen Sink Cookie isn't going anywhere. So take a deep breath. The
Kitchen Sink Cookie is not ready to crumble.
This year has ushered in some behind-the-scenes shifts in Panera's ingredient standards. According
to internal documents seen by Reuters, Panera told its restaurants to remove signs boasting
"No Antibiotics Ever," "Vegetarian Fed," and a host of other green pasture promises. And
the moderator of the unofficial Panera subreddit posted what appears to be a Panera Bread "Cafe
Signage Removal Rollout Guide" listing the same banned phrases. The document on the subreddit
goes on to explain,
"This policy update allows for judicious use of antibiotics in our pork and turkey products
and provides more flexibility in our feeding standards for chicken and beef."
If true, this is a major shift. On the topic of Food Beliefs, Panera's 2021 Responsibility
Report noted the company had achieved its commitment to 100% antibiotic-free poultry
and pork products.
"This is our new turkey cranberry flatbread before we craft it into a sandwich. The amazingly
tender roasted turkey, always raised without antibiotics."
In 2015, 2016, and 2017, Panera and Chipotle were the only restaurants that consistently
aced the Center for Food Safety's report card for their antibiotic policies. When the grading
focused just on beef in 2019 and 2021, Panera's grade slipped to a still very respectable
"A-." But that grade may slip more going forward. Four of Panera's new menu items include bacon,
but antibiotic-free pork is expensive, which might explain Panera's new policy.
Multiple Panera Bread employees spoke to Nation's Restaurant News about reduced hours and layoffs
for bakers. It looks like Panera's leaning more into par-baking — bread, bagels, and
pastries can be partially baked somewhere else, frozen, and then zapped to completion
in the café. Reddit chatter confirms this. In the Panera subreddit, one user posted,
"The time has come to say goodbye. No more beloved bakers in our market."
Accompanying this farewell was a screenshot of a message that appeared to be from Panera
about career transitions. Ouch.
"What's the most important part of a sandwich? It has to be the bread. Without the bread,
it's not a sandwich."
Panera may be in the throes of an identity crisis. In the "about us" section in a Panera
press release from June 15, 2022, the company explained that,
"We began with a simple commitment: to bake bread fresh every day in our bakery-cafes.
No shortcuts, just bakers with simple ingredients and hot ovens."
But the press release about the April 4th menu mentions no such commitment, and the
word "bakers" appears nowhere.
Freezing isn't new to Panera. Panera's Mac & Cheese comes pre-prepared and frozen, as
does the soup. Panera explains that it freezes food to avoid using preservatives and to provide
a consistent experience across cafes. But as Panera embraces its frosty new era, it
may be drifting away from the warm, yeasty embrace of its humble bakery beginnings.
In a press release, Panera dubs the April 4th menu update as "a new era," with the "biggest
menu transformation in brand history." So why the culinary makeover? Panera's mixing
things up to zoom in on what diners love most — soups, salads, sandwiches, and, of course,
the VIP of comfort food, Mac & Cheese.
We certainly need comfort these days given the rising cost of living, and Panera knows
consumers are looking for value. The company plans to offer sandwiches at a variety of
price points while enhancing portions on some favorites to give you more bang for your buck.
The new menu also aims to streamline operations for Panera associates, so they can serve you
faster than you can say, "Extra avocado, please."
But, behind the scenes, there may be more to the story. With Panera aiming to go public
in 2024, it's all hands on deck for growth and profit. The company's already shuffled
its leadership, laid off 17% of its corporate staff, and filed some confidential IPO paperwork
last year. With Panera on Fast Company's list of "10 most highly anticipated IPOs to watch,"
they're not just baking bread. Panera's cooking up a recipe for stock market success.
When it comes to Panera's menu, the only constant is change. Menu items come and go, sometimes
leaving a bagel-shaped hole in our hearts. Some discontinued items do make triumphant
returns, such as the fan-favorite Toasted Frontega Chicken Sandwich. But then there
are those questions that keep us up at night, like whatever happened to the Cuban sandwich?
"@PaneraBread, bring back french onion soup, you cowards."
Not so long ago, Panera was on a mission to lure in breakfast and dinner guests. New breakfast
wraps appeared, with an expanded coffee lineup for the morning caffeine crowd. Then they
rolled out warm grain bowls and flatbread pizzas for later in the day. But with the
April 4th menu overhaul, Panera seems to be doubling down on lunch, axing flatbread pizzas
and honing in on core items — soups, salads, sandwiches, and mac & cheese.
So, what's the takeaway from Panera's game of culinary musical chairs? If your favorite
item disappears in 2024, don't lose hope — it could make a Toasted Frontega Chicken Sandwich-style
comeback! And if you lock eyes with a new menu crush in 2024, don't get too attached
— you never know what will come – or go – with Panera's next big announcement.