Panera Bread
www.panerabread.com
Last verified 3/08
Panera Bread is a casual restaurant that specializes in soups, salads, and sandwiches.
Panera constantly rotates the soups and salads and not all are GF.
RJ's recommendation: If at all possible, go to www.panerabread.com the
day you will be dining there. You can determine from the website:
-
Which year-round soups and salads will be available that day. Check below to see if any are listed.
-
Which Seasonal Soups and Salads are available, and click on the name of the soups to determine by the ingredients if they are GF.
Also - I recommend reading from the Comments section below where users have sent in some very helpful information.
The following was sent by email from Chris,
Customer Comment Coordinator on 3/27/08:
I have included below a list of
our gluten-free menu items. Not all of these items are currently on our menu
and some new menu items have not
yet been
evaluated for the purposes of this list. However, you can find complete
ingredients listings for all current menu items on our website. Click
on Menu and Nutrition,
choose the Bakery or Cafe menu, select a product category from the links
at the top of the page, then click on the individual menu item to display
a page with that item's ingredients and nutritional content.
**Although we do our very best to meet your special requirements, we
cannot rule out the possibility of cross contact between these items
and gluten-containing foods in our bakery-café.
(including the salad dressing), (source of modified food starch is corn)
Greek Salad
Fandango Salad
Caesar Salad (without croutons)
Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad (without croutons)
Asian Sesame Chicken Salad (without Won Ton noodles)
Classic Cafe Salad
Strawberry Poppyseed Salad
Strawberry Poppyseed Salad with Chicken
Fuji Apple Chicken Salad
California Mission Chicken Salad
Orchard Harvest Chicken Salad
Low Fat Vegetarian Black Bean
Cuban Black Bean and Lentil
Vegetarian Roasted Red Pepper & Lentil
Vegetarian Butternut Squash
Creamy Tomato (without croutons)
Low-Fat Vegetarian Southwest Tomato & Roasted Corn
Balsamic Vinaigrette
Caesar
Greek
Poppyseed
Raspberry Vinaigrette
Asian Sesame Vinaigrette
White Balsamic Vinaigrette
Roasted Garlic & Meyer's Lemon Vinaigrette
Coffee
Juice, both apple and orange
Lemonade
Milk
Soda, fountain and bottled
Tea, regular and Chai Tea
All lattes & Frozen beverages
Strawberry Smoothie
3/08
This email was sent on the SillyYak site in response to someone saying they'd never eat at Panera because of flour in the air:
"I went on a field trip with my children for school to our local Panera
Bread. I was worried about flour in the air. They assured me that
they receive dough at the local store which is made at another location
(not at the store). So there was no flour in the air and we had a
wonderful field trip. (I only know this about my local store.)
However, I have never eaten anything there and now I am glad to choose
from their GF choices!" - Rebecca, 7 years GF
3/08
"I work part-time at Panera (because I love it; it doesn't pay enough to do it for money) and the only loose flour in the air is RICE FLOUR. All baked items come pre-made from the company commissary daily for fresh items (breads) or arrive frozen once a week, so there is no mixing going on. Rice flour is used for dusting, for the exact purpose that it DOESN'T hang in the air, and makes a less sticky finished product!
What you have to watch for in terms of CC is -- make sure gloves are changed before your food is prepared, and if you are uncertain, ask for a fresh package of something to be opened. Soups are rarely prone to CC, because it would be REAL obvious if something like a noodle from the chicken soup got into the black bean soup, and the manager should order that whole batch to be thrown out -- not because of gluten but because the black bean soup is VEGETARIAN and the chicken soup isn't! But the soups are kept pretty well segregated anyway. I get the black bean soup regularly (and a half Greek Salad with pepper mustard chicken) and have never had a problem, in spite of getting more and more sensitive the longer I'm GF.
I can tell you also that all the sliced meats are GF, and if you go when it's not busy, you can ask for a 'sandwich' without bread but with extra lettuce leaves (to make your own roll-ups) or get the Italian Combo meat and cheese on a Classic Cafe salad, for a "Chef Salad." If you do get the meat to make roll-ups or bring your own GF bread (pre-toasted or bring Toastabags -- there should be a regular toaster available somewhere near the coffee service at most locations), be sure to tell them you have a "wheat allergy" and no crumbs can touch your food, and also do not use the condiments that are served on the sandwiches, get packets of mayo and/or mustard which should also be available at all locations. All items are prepped separately using food safety guidelines, so it should be possible to minimize/eliminate the possibility of gluten if they know to change gloves and possibly open a fresh bag of meat (or package of cheese or pan of lettuce) to avoid CC. (Please don't go at the peak of lunch hour when there's a long line and expect them to be able to take extra care -- go when it's not busy!!!)"
Chandra to SillyYak site
5/08
"You CAN buy a sandwich without the bread, either as a lettuce wrap or with the fillings on a plate to be put on your own GF bread (and every Panera has a regular toaster hidden somewhere near the coffee, which you can use with your Toastabags). Further, you can ask for any sandwich filling to be served as a salad topping. Just don't make a bunch of special requests when there is a long line at the height of the lunch rush, since that is when mistakes are most likely to happen."
Chandra (who works p/t at Panera)
3/07
"Just wanted to share a wonderful experience that my husband and I had at Panera
Bread at The Forum in Carlsbad.
We arrived at
2pm Friday (a very busy time at the Panera Bread restaurant) and while my husband
was ordering his meal
I
requested to speak to
the manager about my lunch selection. Within seconds
manager Jodi Plumbley
arrived and very graciously showed me the new book Panera
Bread has created for people who have special dietary
needs. She
went over
EVERY item on
the menu including beverages and helped me choose my
meal. In less than 5 minutes
I had a delicious SAFE lunch. She then proceeded to highlight
every safe item on the to-go menu so that I would never
have to feel "odd" again when visiting
a Panera Bread restaurant. I also asked her if she would
accommodate our group for dinner in the future and she
was very eager to assist us in making that
happen.
I have contacted Panera Bread to applaud
Jodi Plumbley and wish to share with our group and anyone
else that
is looking
for a
safe, accommodating and delicious meal my happy experience.
Barbara Droutman
2/05
" I asked Panera why their Caesar salad and Asian Sesame chicken Salad were no
longer on the GF list and they said that it was because you would have to ask
to have the croutons left off the Caesar salad and the Won Ton noodles left off
the Asian Sesame chicken salad. So, we can still order those as long as we remember
to leave off those two items." Barbara
in Missouri
6/04
*One poster to the listserv relayed what "Kay" at Panera Bread stated when
questioned about the source of their modified food starch and natural flavors.
The source of the modified food starch in their soups is corn. However, they
cannot give a blanket statement regarding food starch and natural flavorings
in their other menu categories. If there are specific questions about food
starch and flavors in salads or beverages, for example, that are not included
on our gluten-free list, they will need to be investigated individually.
"I spoke with a Panera representative regarding their Strawberry Poppyseed Salad which is seasonal. It contains lettuce, strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, pecans, and their poppyseed dressing. I always ask for them to add the chicken breast as well. For some reason, they did not list the seasonal salads on their GF list, but this one is GF simply by reviewing the ingredients." Sent
to the Listserv, anonymous
"(My husband and I) wanted to have lunch at Panera, but ran into a problem. Didn't see the gf soups on the "on the wall menu", so sought out the manager (at least he seemed in charge). When questioned about the gf list we had copied from the website (this one) he confessed that they had only one of the listed soups. However, they only have it available a few times a week, like perhaps Monday, Wednesday & Friday. We showed him the printout and he said that information was from the corporate office and that this bakery (Encinitas) is a franchise. He indicated that we must realize that "they are a BAKERY after all", and I told him I was very aware of that." HF,
Carlsbad
5/04
"I've eaten twice now at the Encinitas Panera with happy results. Both times, however, the only GF soup that was available was the Moroccan Tomato Lentil. Guess I was lucky that it was available. Both times I had their soup and salad combo, with the Fandango Salad as my salad of choice. Everything was very good." RJ,
La Jolla
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