By Michael F. Carmichael
Dec. 1, 2011
| Panera Cares Community Cafe in Dearborn, Michigan. |
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If you hear the words “soup kitchen,” the vision you have is not one of Panera Bread Bakery-Cafes – yet they, too, have kitchens that create soup … it’s delicious and they make a lot of it, in addition to bread, other bakery products and sandwiches. Three of those Panera stores, however, are not like the other nearly 1,500. They’re called Panera Cares and, if you can’t pay the normal price for that delicious soup or anything else on the menu, you pay what you can – or, if you’re able, you pay more than the suggested “donation” price.
Kate Antonacci is project manager for Panera Cares. “Since Panera was founded,” she explains, “giving was a fundamental part of our DNA.” For nearly 10 years the company has been giving back to their local communities either via cash donations to charities or with donations of bakery products at the end of the day.
“That amounts to $150-200 million worth of goods each year,” Antonacci says. Additionally, about $2 million is donated through collection boxes at each store into which customers contribute cash donations that are then augmented by Panera.
All told, it’s a relatively significant giveback to the communities served by Panera stores. So, how did they get into the pay-what-you-can-afford model? “About two years ago we were sitting around a table,” Antonacci relates. “We were giving away a huge amount of money, but we felt very disconnected from it. We weren’t interacting with the folks who were on the receiving end of our donations. By chance, Ron [Ron Shaich, co-founder of Panera and president of the Panera Foundation, which runs the Panera Cares restaurants] saw a “Making a Difference” segment on NBC Nightly News about a community cafe out in Denver that was founded on the premise that anybody could get a meal, regardless of their means.”
That was when the light went off. Panera could replicate the idea but with the support and experience of running those 1,500 profit-making stores. “It would be a much more interactive and direct form of giving,” says Antonacci. Instead of opening similar operations immediately, Panera approached the program with a startup mentality. “We didn’t want to jump into it right away. We weren’t too smart yet. We spent about nine months learning, visiting other models that exist out there. We were trying to understand all of the ways those who are in need of a meal got one. We visited soup kitchens and food pantries and that was probably the turning point in our thinking, in that it was a completely different eating experience.”