Panera Bred has set a goal to ban certain unhealthy ingredients from their menu by the end of 2016.
In a statement, CEO Ron Shaich said, “Last year we unveiled our Food Policy to hold ourselves accountable to long held valuables and set the future vision for our menu. The No No List is the latest step on our journey to clean food and a transparent menu.”
A downloadable list is available on Panera Bread’s website called the “No No List” which informs restaurant goers of the bad ingredients that will be removed progressively over the next year and a half
Senior Quality Assurance Manager at Panera Sara Burnett told Fortune.com, “We are basically cleaning out our pantry.”
Some of the better known ingredients on the list are caffeine, lard, certain artificial flavorings, and artificial colors.
Panera Bread guessed that about 85% of their menu items have been eliminated from their food menu, and they are in works to remove even more of them.
There are roughly 150 ingredients that will be removed from the menu, as of now, over the next year and a half. As of right now, this list will only apply to the foods served by Panera, but consideration is being put into the drinks.
Panera’s food policy wants to create a menu that everyone can understand, they want to only serve and work with clean ingredients and use 100% pure meat in their food.
In their current food policy they explain that they have vegetarian fed animals, who have not ingested antibiotics, and are cage free. The humane treatment of animals is hard to find in many popular food restaurants chains.
Panera Bread’s efforts are part of a growing initiative by restaurants everywhere to make their food healthier for their consumers.
According to CNN.com, McDonald’s plans to remove use of chickens who ingested antibiotics, and Chipotle is cutting out GMO foods.
Other companies are vowing to remove artificial flavors such as Nestlé and Kraft.
In a video on Panera Bread’s website called “Unacceptable Ingredients” they have people pronounce ingredients that seem almost unpronounceable.
In the videos it’s shown that there are a large amount of ingredients used in Panera Bread’s foods that their customers can’t understand, Panera is determined to remove it from their menu to create a healthy eating experience.
A message appears on the screen saying, “If the ingredients in your food are unpronounceable, we believe they shouldn’t be in your food.”
These videos are in connection to the conversation that Panera Bread is trying to create amongst their fans. This is done with the use of the Panera Goodness campaign.
Panera Bread tweeted, “Good food means something different to everyone. Tell us what good food means to you.”
On Panera Bread’s Twitter, Christina S. said, “Eating good food makes me feel great. Makes me feel amazing. Refreshes me in the morning.”
Their firs initiative is that starting Wednesday, Panera Bread will only serve salad dressings without artificial sweeteners, colors, flavors and preservatives. This is part of the effort to create a healthier menu.
Panera Bread’s Head Chef Dan Kish said, “Dressings have been one of the most complex projects given the number of artificial additives – namely flavors and preservatives – conventionally used for taste and consistency.”
Kish is sure that the new dressings created from this movement will taste better than ever.
In many situations, Panera Bread realized that things like food coloring were things that would be easy to remove from their foods, while there be little change to the actual food. It will be both an adjustment for the restaurant and restaurant goers as they are the ones who will be feeling the effects of the new ingredients.
With Panera Bread’s initiative, this has the potential light the spark under many other restaurants.
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