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There's no better place to get lunch than Panera Bread. The fast-casual restaurant is home to some of the most delicious entrées, sides, and bakery items. Though it's no secret that these menu items are amazing, the way these foods are prepared is a little questionable. There's one food that you should avoid the next time you go to Panera Bread, and it's not going to be an easy change to make...
[Photos: Instagram]
If you were looking forward to enjoying some of Panera's tasty soups this fall, you're going to want to reconsider your decision. A former Panera employee has revealed that the soup isn't fresh at all. In fact, it comes in frozen bags and sometimes is served frozen!
"The soups come in frozen bags in boxes that say 'Institution Food' on the side of the box. We would throw them in a hot water cooker that would bring them up to temperature from freezing blocks to near boiling hot bags. Run in the back and fill up the empty pots from the food line," a former employee said on Reddit, according to Thrillist. "Sometimes we didn't get to fully thaw out the soup in time and put some cold ones out there often enough. I didn't mind the soups there so much but this would ruin the illusion for some customers if they knew."
Yikes! This is definitely good to know. It looks like avoiding the soup could also be good for your waistline, too! Eat This, Not That! ranked Panera's menu items and revealed that some of their soups are really unhealthy. Full servings of faves like the New England Clam Chowder are about 700 calories, while the Vegetarian Creamy Tomato Soup was filled with high levels of sodum and fat.
Wow, this really changes a lot. Looks like we'll be swapping our go-to soup for a salad the next time we're building our You-Pick-Two meal for lunch...
