Panera Bread customers around the country soon will be able to tally calories for their smokehouse turkey panini and broccoli cheddar soup with just a glance at the menu board.
Panera announced Wednesday it will be the first nationwide chain to voluntarily post calorie information at all of its company-owned restaurants. The move is notable in an industry that had historically opposed requirements that chain operations post calorie counts.
But the landscape is changing as local laws mandating nutritional disclosure become more common and Congress considers a nationwide mandate. This is only one in a wave of changes consumers can expect to see on chain restaurant menus in coming years.
Panera officials said the possibility of wider mandates played a role in the move. But they also were pleased with how their customers reacted at Paneras that already advertise the fact that the chain’s Asian sesame chicken salad has 410 calories, compared to the 680 in the Napa almond chicken salad sandwich on sesame semolina.
“It puts everything out in the open, obviously,” said Scott Davis, the company’s chief concept officer. “So when you look at making a choice between a soup with 100 calories and a sandwich with 300 or 400 calories, it puts it pretty clearly what’s in your best interest.”
Calorie counts will be posted by March 24 at all 585 company-owned stores, including Saint Louis Bread Co. and Paradise Bakery & Cafe stores. Panera expects its franchisees to eventually follow suit, which would cover all 1,380 stores.
That schedule puts Panera ahead of Yum Brands Inc. — parent of KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Long John Silver’s and A&W All-American Food — which committed in 2008 to place calorie counts on menu boards at corporate-owned restaurants nationwide by Jan. 1, 2011. Yum Senior Vice President Jonathan Blum said they are testing their menu boards and are on target to make good on the commitment at more than 3,200 restaurants.
Panera and Yum, like most national chains, already have been forced to display nutritional information in some cities as local disclosure laws kick in.
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http://mddailyrecord.com/2010/03/10/panera-bread-to-become-first-chain-to-post-calorie-totals/
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