Restaurant Review: Panera Bread

We have all been there.  Appointments are filled to the brim, and you are searching for a place to grab a quick and healthy lunch while finalizing an e-mail to send. Thankfully, Panera Bread delivers in such situations. Fresh bread, a wide array of salads, sandwiches, and soups from which to choose, in addition to edible pastries, caffeine concoctions, and free wi-fi.

Although, oftentimes, the casual diner is filled with groups of soccer mothers, +Panera Bread offers tasty food that satisfies hunger pains, wanes fatigue and can serve as a productive off-site office when need be. It may come as shock that not all of the food and beverages available at Panera are soy free. However, the website for Panera may be easily navigated to find full lists of ingredients.

To access the nutrition and dietary information, select the "Menu Items" tab at the top of this Web page, and choose your category that you would like to learn more. Scroll to the middle of the page and select "Get the Facts." This will allow you to see the ingredients, or, you can click here for easy redirection to the Panera Bread nutrition Web page.

Some popular menu items including soy:

• Cinnamon Crunch Bagel
• Rustic Penne Bolognese 
• Broccoli Cheddar Soup
• White Balsamic Fuji Apple Salad Dressing
• Caramel Latte

Overall grade: B+. Panera joins the top ranks of Chipotle as a fast food restaurant that discloses nutritional information to its customers. Menu selections not containing, but are processed in close proximity to soy are clearly labeled. However, it is important to double check ingredients for small amounts of unlabeled soy, such as miniscule amounts of soybean oil.