Panera is a chain café and restaurant with locations all over the U.S. and the world.
Panera is especially famous for its breakfast options, and you pick two lunch items that include soup, salad, or a sandwich.
Does Panera serve breakfast all day?
Does Panera Serve Breakfast All Day?
No, Panera does not serve all-day breakfast.
The breakfast menu starts at 6:00 am and finishes at 10:30 on Monday through Friday.
On Saturdays, it starts at 6:00 am and ends at 11:00 am.
On Sundays, breakfast starts a bit later at 7:00 am and finishes at 11:00 am.
If you don’t think you’ll make it out of bed in time to enjoy a yummy Panera breakfast, you can place an order on a food-delivery app like DoorDash, GrubHub, or Uber Eats before the 10:30 or 11:00 deadline.
You can also download the Panera app and place an order for pickup.
What Does Panera Serve For Breakfast?
Panera is best known for its baked goods like muffins, cakes, and bagels.
Some of their breakfast sandwiches include the classic bacon, egg, and cheese on brioche.
You can also order sausage, scrambled egg, and cheese on ciabatta.
For the vegetarians, there are egg and cheese sandwiches as well.
You can make modifications to your bread and eggs of choice when you place your order.
Other breakfast menu options include whole-grain wraps such as chipotle chicken, scrambled egg, and avocado, or bacon, scrambled egg, and tomato.
The Panera baked egg soufflés are delectable.
If you haven’t tried one yet, the spinach and bacon soufflé, four-cheese soufflé, and spinach and artichoke soufflé are especially delicious.
Some other Panera breakfast classics are Greek yogurt and mixed berry parfait, steel-cut oatmeal with strawberries and pecans, and a summer fruit cup.
Panera also has a secret menu that includes the power breakfast egg bowl with steak and the power breakfast egg white bowl with roasted turkey.
These two breakfast bowl options aren’t featured on the regular menu, but you’ll be ordering them from any associate in the store.
If the associate doesn’t know what’s in it, you can list the ingredients, and they should be able to prepare it for you.
Of course, we can’t forget Panera’s signature bagels such as cinnamon crunch, asiago, chocolate chip, cinnamon swirl, sesame, plain, everything, blueberry, French toast, and more depending on the season.
For the more diet conscious, Panera also offers a sprouted grain bagel flat.
You can also request your bagel to be “scooped out,” so it doesn’t include as much bread in the middle.
You might be able to score your favorite bagel after the official breakfast hours, but more on that later.
What If I Have An Allergy?
Panera offers a handy feature for any diet or allergen-conscious customers.
You can sort out any items that include shellfish, eggs, wheat, soy, fish, tree nuts, peanuts, or milk.
However, some cross-contamination is possible.
If you’re highly allergic, it might be a good idea to avoid the menu altogether.
If you’d like more details on your meal, you can check the Panera website, click on your selected item and see a complete list of nutrition facts including fats, sugars, protein, carbohydrates, and of course, calories.
What If I Miss Breakfast?
Not to worry!
There are plenty of Panera options that are great for breakfast and are also available long after the 10:30 am breakfast curfew.
Depending on current inventory, you may be able to order bagels at various points during the day.
The Panera bagels are legendary.
But if you want one of their signature breakfast options like bacon, egg, and cheese, you can only get that within the breakfast schedule.
If you’re willing to order something simpler like just cream cheese or butter, you might be able to order this after breakfast hours.
Panera makes sure their bagels are extra special.
There are a variety of cream cheeses like regular, low fat, strawberry, honey walnut, chive and onion, and more.
You can also order other breakfast pastries throughout the day such as cinnamon rolls, bear claws, pecan braids, and croissants.
If you like a sugary breakfast, you can also go for their packaged chocolate and petite cookies, oatmeal rain cookies, candy cookies, and flip flop cookies.
Other options include blueberry, orange, or mini scones.
There are also blueberry, chocolate chip, cranberry orange, and pumpkin muffins.
You can order the Greek yogurt and berry parfait, and summer fruit cup throughout the day.
If you miss breakfast, you can still rely on Panera to provide you with a substantial breakfast, regardless of the time of day.
However, if you want to avoid missing breakfast, as long as you place your order before 10:30 or 11 am, you should be good to go.
Another Panera perk is that their beverages are available throughout the day.
Some of their most popular options include their iced Colombian dark roast coffee, hazelnut coffee, café blend light roast coffee, and decaf coffee.
You can order all these iced or hot.
There are also more specialty options such as Madagascar vanilla cream cold brew, chai tea latte, caramel latte, chocolate latte, frozen caramel cold brew, and hot chocolate.
To meet customers’ expectations and dietary needs, Panera now carries soy milk, almond milk, and oat milk.
Panera has made it extremely easy to treat your friends and coworkers to coffee or cater an event.
You can order any bagel as a half dozen, baker’s dozen, bagel pack, or dozen and a half.
Some of the pastries for easy serving include one dozen chocolate chipper cookies, one dozen mixed cookies, four-pack chocolate chipper cookies, 12-pack petite cookies, six-pack tulip cookies, four-pack candy cookies, four-pack oatmeal raisin with berries cookies, and a four-pack of lemon drop cookies.
You can also order a variety pack of cinnamon rolls, a four-pack of vanilla cinnamon rolls, and a pastry ring big enough for twelve.
You can also order any cream cheese spread in a tub, Coffee and other beverages can be ordered in an easy pour tote.
When Does Lunch Start At Panera?
The short answer is as soon as breakfast is over.
On Mondays through Fridays, as soon as the clock strikes 10:30, the breakfast options are put on pause and the soups start getting prepared.
The same happens on Saturdays and Sundays at 11:00 am.
Lucky for you, most of Panera’s lunch options are available all day long.
If you’re craving salad or mac and cheese at 7:00 am, you’ll be able to get it at Panera.
The only lunch and dinner items not available during breakfast hours are the soups.
What Are The Healthiest Meal Options At Panera?
Panera listens to its customers when it comes to their diet restrictions.
Some of their healthiest menu items include the avocado, egg white, and spinach breakfast sandwich, steel cut oatmeal with almonds, quinoa, and honey, Mediterranean veggie sandwich, Caesar salad with grilled chicken, strawberry poppyseed salad with chicken, and black bean salad.
With the You Pick Two option that allows you to choose any combination of soups, salads, and sandwiches, you can try more than one of these healthy options in one meal.
If you’re hoping to adapt some of your other favorites to be healthier, you can request egg whites instead of eggs, add spinach to anything, change your Caesar dressing to something lighter, ask for no cheese, or change the ciabatta roll to a multigrain bread.
There are countless other ways to modify your meal, so don’t be shy to ask a Panera employee for a healthier option.
Panera prides itself on its healthy and fresh ingredients.
In a 2018 press release, Panera promised customers that they use 100% real eggs, which means no powdered eggs or egg substitutes in any of their pastries or breakfast options.
Panera Bread is also planning to remove half of its meat items from its menu in favor of a more vegan-friendly menu.
Panera customers are looking to reduce their meat consumption, and Panera wants to keep its customers happy.
What Are The Top-Rated Meal Items At Panera?
For breakfast, the top-rated items include the avocado, egg white, and spinach power breakfast sandwich, turkey sausage, egg white, and spinach power breakfast sandwich, ham, egg, and cheese breakfast power sandwich, egg and cheese on ciabatta, and power almond quinoa oatmeal.
For lunch, the best items are (in order) the broccoli cheddar soup, chicken noodle soup, creamy tomato soup, cream of chicken and wild rice soup, ten vegetable soup, all-natural turkey chili, baked egg soufflé, and chicken Caesar salad.
The best sandwiches are the chipotle chicken avocado melt, roasted turkey and avocado BLT, bacon turkey bravo, grilled mac and cheese, toasted frontega chicken panini, and napa almond chicken salad.
How Fresh Is Panera?
Compared to other fast-food restaurants, Panera is fresh.
All the bagels are made on-site, even though they are not boiled like traditional bagels.
All breakfasts are made as needed, which means the eggs are cracked fresh just for you.
None of the sandwiches or salads are premade either, but the meat may have been previously frozen.
All the soups are also prepared on-site, but they are often frozen in large blocks to preserve them for longer.
When ready for serving, the big frozen soup cubes are dropped into a basket of hot water to defrost them.
How Can I Find My Nearest Panera?
The Panera website has a useful tool called the café locator which allows you to input your current location to find the nearest Panera.
It will show you a list of potential options near you, in addition to the address, hours of operation, and directions to the café.
How Can I Make My Money Go Farther At Panera?
There are several menu hacks to save money at Panera.
You can get free coffee refills on most beverages (with a few exceptions), extra free ingredients like avocado, and 99-cent pastries.
On your birthday, you can get a free birthday pastry or sweet at participating locations.
Honestly, the best way to get the most bang for your buck at Panera is to work there.
They have a great employee discount that includes 65% off any meal up to ten dollars.
Employees are given meal vouchers that can be shared among family and friends as well.
But if working at Panera isn’t in the cards, you’ll want to know about their loyalty program, MyPanera.
When you go to Panera, ask to sign up for the rewards program.
You’ll give some personal information and receive a card.
Bring this card with you when you go to Panera, and you’ll rack up points for each dollar you spend.
Be sure not to give a fake email or phone number when you sign up, though, because that’s how Panera sends you various rewards and account updates.
MyPanera is extremely easy to use.
You don’t have to keep track of points or coupons—your purchases will be recorded automatically, and you’ll get a notification when you’re eligible for a reward.
Some possible rewards include complimentary bakery-café items, exclusive previews and tastings, cooking, and baking tips, and more.
You can also receive special invitations to events, ideas for hosting, books of recipes, and more.
Every time you visit Panera and use your MyPanera account, the bottom of the receipt will tell you how many more visits you need to make until you are eligible for your next reward.
It will also tell you your progress towards earning other rewards, any available rewards, and their expiration dates.
You can also see all this information by signing into your MyPanera account on the Panera website.
If you receive a text or email saying that you received a reward, just know that the offer will be available for the next 60 days.
If you forget to input your MyPanera card information while you are at the café, you can add it retroactively on the Panera website.
This is only if you already have a rewards card.
Preregistration visits are unfortunately not eligible for MyPanera rewards.
If you lose your card, you can simply walk into any Panera location and ask the associate for a new one.
You’ll have to verify your information, and then you should be good to go.
You can also download the Panera app and add your card to your Google or Apple wallet for easy access.
Conclusion
Panera Bread is one of the most successful fast-food chains, and for good reason.
They offer an incredible breakfast selection, in addition to lunch and dinner options that are available all day.
Unfortunately, most of the breakfast options discontinue after 10:30 or 11 am, but you should still be able to get a bagel or pastry after breakfast is over.
If you’re worried about making it in time, you can place your order before breakfast ends, and have it delivered to your door or pick it up in-store.
If you’re a big Panera fan, make sure you sign up for the rewards program so you can redeem special offers and receive exclusive access to events and recipes.
Panera is always improving and updating the menu, so you can look forward to new vegetarian and vegan-friendly options in the coming months.
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