I was pleasantly surprised to bump into this Panera Bread ad touting their donation program. As you can see, through a Feeding America partnership, Panera will now donate the remaining bread at the end of every day to those in need.
Now, this won’t be easy to pull off, given the uniqueness of every market and the detail that many Paneras are run by franchisees. But that’s where the Feeding America network of food banks will hopefully come in handy. And even if it doesn’t work perfectly, the increased donations and attention to excess is still quite helpful.
One final thought: It’s great to see someone take credit for their food donations. Too often, retailers and restaurants are leery of publicizing their actions, meaning the donor and the practice of food recovery miss out on some well-earned and much-needed publicity.