Panera Bread Franchise in St. Louis Gives Back Through Individual Charity

During Liberty On Tour's latest stop in St. Louis, they visited the St. Louis Bread Co., which is owned by Panera Bread Co. As detailed in the video below and a blog post by Pete on the main Liberty On Tour website, this restaurant works off of a "suggested donation" model of payment. So customers ordering food are given a suggested price, but it is up to them to decide what they can and are willing to pay.  In addition, they have an option to pay via "volunteer hours," whereby people can come in and volunteer to work in exchange for a voucher for free food and drinks.

The idea behind this is to ensure that people who can't afford to pay for a meal have options available to get food without having to spend money. And according to employees, this plan has been successful in accomplishing that goal. Reportedly, 85 to 90 percent of customers voluntarily pay at above the suggested price level. All profits raised above that which is required to fund the St. Louis Bread Co. itself, go toward feeding needy people and other area charities. In addition, company higher-ups have commented that they plan to open two other locations in other cities in the coming months.

Watch the video and you can't help but be impressed by what you see: