Panera Bread

                One of my favorite places to go to eat has to be Panera Bread. I love the cozy, comfy atmosphere of the place. It’s the perfect place to grab lunch with a friend, have dinner with the family, or grab a meal by yourself while working on school work or work-work.

                My absolute favorite thing at Panera Bread is the broccoli cheddar soup. To be honest, this soup is the only way I’ll eat broccoli. This soup is my absolute favorite soup. It has the right amount of cheesy-ness and broccoli. It is always hot too, so no worries about having a cold bowl of soup. I’ve tried other restaurants’ and brands’ versions of broccoli cheddar soup, and nothing compares at all. Others’ seem bland in comparison. Panera Bread’s soups come with a French or whole grain baguette. Dipping the bread into the soup is also one of my favorite ways to eat it. (When I’ve had this soup with my family, we have ordered the “Soup for a Group”, which serves 3 to 4 people.)

                Panera Bread has a wide variety of sandwiches, soups, and salads. They also have a bunch of different coffees, drinks, and frozen drinks/smoothies. Then there’s the breakfast menu. Panera Bread has great bagels. My favorite is the cinnamon crunch bagel. Not only is the bagel filled with cinnamon swirls, but it is topped with cinnamon sugar crunchy pieces. It’s more of a dessert than a breakfast. Then there’s the pastries and sweets, like cookies, brownies, scones, sweet rolls, muffins, and coffee cake. Their chocolate chip cookies are so good, and they are huge! Panera Bread also sells loaves of their amazing breads.

                Panera Bread also has this “pick two” deal. With this deal, you can pick two of the following: a cup of soup, half a sandwich, or half a salad. I’d say this is the way to go if you can’t decide what you want.

                Something I love about Panera Bread is their “Operation Dough-Nation”. This program gives back to the community. With Panera Bread’s Operation Dough-Nation, “A portion of cash donations made in our bakery-cafes may be matched and donated to local hunger relief organizations. Unsold bread is donated at the day’s end to local hunger relief agencies. We regularly donate our products and gift certificates to benefit a wide range of charitable organizations and causes.” I absolutely love this about Panera Bread. I love that they give back to the community and try to make the world a better, and less hungry, place. I love that they don’t waste the food that they make, that it is donated to those who need it. Bravo, Panera Bread! Bravo!

                The only thing about Panera Bread that isn’t so great is the prices. Panera Bread can be somewhat pricey for soups, sandwiches, and salads. Also, every time I go there, their prices seemed to have increased even more. That’s the downside of the place. So I don’t go there as much as I used to. But I love Panera Bread.

Photo from: http://www.panerabread.com/