Panera Bread has unveiled its “largest menu transformation ever,” including new and improved menu items, bigger portions, and some lower prices.
Panera said on Thursday that the overhaul, which will be rolled out on April 4, focuses on its core items: Soups, salad, sandwiches, and mac and cheese.
It’s adding nine new menu items, including a Ciabatta Cheesesteak, Bacon Mac and Cheese, and a Southwest Chicken Ranch Salad.
It said 12 other menu items would be improved, including its Chipotle Chicken Avocado Melt and Fuji Apple Chicken Salad.
It didn’t specify what changes it was making to these items but noted it was adding more chicken and steak to existing sandwiches and salads.
Panera said its new menu offers diners better value through lower price points and “enhanced,” or bigger, portions. It emphasized some of the new items are priced at under $10.
Diners are increasingly focusing on valu,e and some are choosing to cook at home more often because of rising restaurant prices. The cost of meals at limited-service restaurants like Panera rose 5.8% in the year to January, compared to a 1.2% increase in grocery prices, per inflation data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
As well as eating out less often, some people are responding to higher prices in the restaurant industry by trading down to cheaper menu items or choosing not to get sides, Danilo Gargiulo, an analyst at Bernstein covering restaurants, told Business Insider.
Panera is cutting some items to make space for the new dishes, including the flatbreads introduced in 2019, it told CNN. Panera said in its press release that the menu changes were designed to “streamline and simplify operations” for its staff.
Last year, the bakery chain tested a dramatically simplified menu at some of its cafés, cutting nearly 50 menu items like its kids’ meals, various baked goods, and some sandwiches. Panera told CNN that its latest menu overhaul was separate from this test.
Sandwich rival Subway gave its menu a huge shake-up in 2021, with new ingredients and an emphasis on standardized sandwiches designed to be ordered without customizations.
Speaking about how some restaurant chains have cut menu items to speed up their operations, Jim Sanderson, restaurant analyst at Northcoast Research, told BI that it drives labor productivity but “could come at the expense of a consumer.”
“The bottom line is you never really know whether you’re going to end up deleting something that a consumer comes to you fo,r and you may lose a trip,” he said.