At CaterCow, we take catering very seriously. With thousands of orders under our belts, we know exactly what to look for in a great catering partner.
Panera Bread is one of the most popular restaurant caterers nationwide with more than 30,000 Americans seeking it out each month. It's popularity, however has been declining with about 10% fewer people searching for it each year.
Given both Panera's absolute popularity as well as its declining demand, we decided to give Panera catering a try ourselves.
How to Place a Panera Catering Order
To make a Panera catering order you can place your order in person or go online to Panera's catering website:
When placing the order you will be prompted to sign in, proceed as a guest or to join MyPanera--Panera Bread's in-house rewards platform. As a Panera noob, I decided to sign up for MyPanera:
To join MyPanera, you'll need to supply basic contact information like name, address, email, phone number, and birthday. Upon signing up, you are rewarded instantly with the choice of a free pastry or 'sweet welcome reward'--not too shabby for a few basic pieces of information
Having joined MyPanera and signing in, it's time to place that catering order.
Panera Bread offers both delivery and pick-up. A quick address check will verify if delivery is available to your office or residence. We selected both delivery and setup to see how the food would be presented (more on that later)
Next, Panera will ask for guest count and delivery time. We were impressed that Panera Bread offers same-day catering delivery with a minimum window of two hours and 15 minutes from the time the order is placed, making it a convenient last-minute catering option.
Now that we had joined the MyPanera reward program, had verified our delivery address, identified how many diners and our delivery window, it was time to place our Panera catering order.
Panera Catering Menu
Panera Bread's catering menu is delightfully presented with high-quality photos. Organized by popular bundles, meal occassion, and item type helped quickly navigate to the right option.
Despite it's nice layout, we ran into a number of problems actually placing the order where customization is only available in certain ordering flows.
We started with popular bundles--when in doubt, trust the crowd.
The Hot Sandwich & Salad Bundle sounded perfect but at $21.39 per person (before tax, tip, and delivery) felt quite pricey and well-above the average corporate catering costs CaterCow customers pay.
Undeterred (and paying with my CaterCow corporate credit card), we continued on where it seemed like we might be able to edit which sandwiches, desserts, and sides were included.
Unfortunately, these default options were not customizable easily. For example, we really wanted Panera's Asian Chicken Salad instead of their Caesar Salad with Chicken. But instead of being able to swap out one salad for another, we were only allowed to customize the Caesar.
No item swapping permitted among Panera's Popular Bundles
As catering experts ourselves who basically invented the catering package, we had to believe there was a way to customize a Panera catering bundle. But clearly, we reached a dead end so we navigated back to the catering menu seeking customization bliss.
We navigated away from Panera's Popular Bundles and clicked directly into their sandwich menu. Admittedly, it was confusing to click into sandwiches and see options that weren't...sandwiches.
The Hot Deluxe Assortment looked eerily similar to the Hot Sandwich & Salad Bundle I had just navigated away from. But it is here, away from Panera's popular bundles that you'll find your customization panacea.
By clicking customize, any Panera catering orderer can select exactly what they want:
For example, our group wanted healthy catering options so we decided to swap out bags of chips for apples.
It was here that we uncovered a little Panera catering ordering secret: fruit cups can be added either as a side or as a dessert.
Having fully customized our order--swapping the Asian Chicken Salad for the Chicken Caesar Salad, swapping apples for bags of chips, and swapping cookies for fruit cups, we were finally ready to check out.
How to Save $6 Per Person on Panera Catering
All our work was worth it. Instead of paying more than $21 per person for Panera catering, we got out Panera catering cost per person down to under $15
Most corporate catering orderers are concerned with the cost per person. Panera made that easy to see at the 'cart' stage. But once we clicked checkout, we got a full view of Panera's catering cost per person:
On our $118 order, there was a $20 delivery fee, ~$10 worth of tax, and then a $17 tip charge. While those sound reasonable, in total delivery, tax, and tip added 40% to the cost of our order!
Panera Catering Delivery Experience
Our delivery window was a tight 15 minutes (12:45-1:00) during the lunch rush.
At 12:58 our delivery driver Kathryn arrived in what appeared to be her own vehicle. She wore a purple Panera polo with her name embroidered on it and carried a Panera-labeled bag so there was no doubt that this lady was our delivery driver.
Kathryn was super friendly and obliged when asked if we could take her photo as she set up our catering order
The food came in Panera logo packaging and was accompanied by recyclable serving spoons, plastic cutlery, and compostable paper plates. We appreciated the sustainable packaging!
Panera Bread catering food labels not best-in-class
Each item in our Panera Bread catering order was labelled, but the labels only marked the item. There were no callouts for ingredients or dietary concerns. Because every label looked similar, nearly every person in our party missed the label completely, asking "what is this?" or "what's in this?"
So while the labels may make the sandwiches easy to organize, they did not aid in distribution. We can only imagine that a large order for 50+ people would be an organizational nightmare.
Even the Asian Chicken Sesame salad was thought to be a Caesar at first glance by two people in our party.
CaterCow takes a lot of pride in our labels which clearly state who the item is for, what's in it, and any dietary highlights--we thought Panera could learn a thing or two from us.
Panera Bread Catering Food
Our order consisted of a large salad, 5 sandwiches cut in halfs, a sack of apples, a large french bread, plus 2 cookies and 3 fruit cups for dessert.
Our group thought the salad was forgettable.
Of the sandwiches, some were surprised at the spice level in the cheesteak ciabatta and our 3 year old spit out his caprese with a 'yuck' (the adults liked it just fine).
The fruit cups were very heavy on melon and canteloupe. We think a great fruit cup should have some berries or grapes. The apples were of a small size so overall a miss on fruit.
The french bread was definitely a carb overload and also arrived a bit broken showing the wear of its delivery journey:
Panera Catering Not Great for Office Catering
While our small group was satisfied with the Panera catering order, we all agreed it likely wasn't a good fit for corporate catering.
At the end of the meal, most took naps and felt bloated--the exact opposite effect you'd like in a corporate catering order.
On the positive side:
- Food was delivered within our delivery window
- The hot sandwiches arrived hot (no easy feat!)
- Packaging seemed eco-friendly
- The 'all-in' cost per person (after some online hacks) came in well within a corporate catering budget.
On the negative side:
- Salad and fruit quality were sub-par
- Sandwiches rendered the group too bloated to move
- Labels were not distinctive enough for efficient distribution and did not appropriately label whether the item was vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, or contained nuts
- Online ordering was not intuitive
- Tax, tip, and delivery added 40% to our cost.
Panera catering works best for small, casual gatherings. For structured corporate catering with 25+ attendees, dietary complexity, and budget oversight, it may fall short.