Panera pay-what-you-want chili introduced in St. Louis stores
Panera is mostly known for its bread bowls, but the caf茅 chain is making another name for itself in the arena of hunger awareness.
On Wednesday, the St. Louis-based company introduced a 鈥榩ay-what-you-want鈥� turkey chili entree on its menus in the 48 locations in its hometown, where it operates as 鈥淪t. Louis Bread Co.鈥澛�
Dubbed 鈥淭he Meal of Shared Responsibility,鈥� the chili comes in a bread bowl and is served with chips, a baguette, or an apple on the side. Suggested retail price is $5.98, but customers can pay more, or less, or even nothing. The idea, as with other pay-what-you-can models, is that those ponying up more cash will pick up the tab for those who can鈥檛 afford to pay full price, or anything.
The launch puts a corporate face on the idea of community caf茅s and the gift economy, which heretofore has been the domain of smaller, locally run organizations.
鈥淲e know that one in six Americans 鈥� over 50 million people nationwide 鈥� are food insecure, meaning they have limited or uncertain access to adequate food,鈥� Panera founder Ron Saich said in the Panera press release. 鈥淲hile this meal will obviously not eradicate hunger in St. Louis, we believe it鈥檚 a step in the right direction鈥�. [W]e鈥檙e asking our communities to join together to share in the responsibility of paying it forward to help their neighbors.鈥�
Why turkey chili? 鈥淥ne of the main issues with hunger is聽 [lack of] access to nutritious foods,鈥� says Panera Cares spokeswoman Kate Antonacci via telephone. (Panera Cares is the charitable arm of the company.) 鈥淚f someone is only getting one meal a day, we want it to be filling and nutritious.鈥�
To that end, the entr茅e is full of beans and assorted vegetables, and is high in protein and fiber. So far, there are no plans to introduce the concept in other locations, or expand it to other menu items. 鈥淲e鈥檙e really using this as a test to see what people will do, so we can鈥檛 commit until we have a better idea,鈥� Ms. Antonacci says.
With the 鈥淢eal of Shared Responsibility,鈥� Panera is slowly introducing its charitable anti-hunger efforts to its mainstream clientele. The caf茅 chain, which operates about 1,600 locations nationwide, already runs pay-what-you-can restaurants, called 鈥淧anera Cares鈥� caf茅s in five major cities: St. Louis, Detroit, Portland, Chicago, and most recently, Boston. The caf茅s look and feel just like Panera restaurants, but there are only suggested prices, and no cash registers.
鈥淚t's really more 'pay what you can.' We鈥檙e not looking to make any money there, just to sustain the concept itself,鈥� according to Antonacci. She says that about 60 percent of customers pay the suggested price, 15 to 20 percent pay more, and 15 to 20 percent pay less or nothing. The restaurants generally break even, and any extra is donated to local hunger charities.
Panera is the first major chain to try a 鈥榩ay what you can鈥� model, giving an increasingly popular concept in the anti-hunger nonprofit world even more steam. The Panera caf茅s were inspired by smaller operations around the country, including the SAME (So All May Eat) Caf茅 in Denver and the One World Everybody Eats (OWEE) caf茅 in Salt Lake City. In 2011, singer Jon Bon Jovi opened the JBJ Soul Kitchen in Red Bank, N.J. The restaurant encourages patrons to pay what they are able, and if they can鈥檛 pay, an hour of volunteering will cover their meal.
鈥淎t the end of the day it鈥檚 really a psychological experiment of sorts,鈥� Antonacci says 鈥淢ore than anything we鈥檙e doing this to elevate the discussion and raise awareness, and provide a wholesome meal to people regardless of their means.鈥�
鈥淭here are a lot of people who want to do something in their community but it can be kind of hard,鈥� she adds. 鈥淭his makes it easy.鈥澛�
Time will tell whether other chains will launch similar efforts. But for now, Panera's work is bringing the community caf茅 concept to a wider swath of customers.聽
