Brilliant Idea - Panera Cares

When we were in Chicago the other day, we wanted to grab a small bite and sit.  Look at what we found - Panera Cares.  Ends up that there are 4 of these in the country - and two of the four are in Chicago.  The other ones are in Clayton, MO (seemed weird location, but this is Panera's home base, so it makes sense now) and Portland, OR.

The idea is that you pay what you can. On the menu there are "suggested donation" amounts, but you pay what you can.  According to the co-founder of Panera "Twenty percent of customers pay more than the suggested donation. Sixty percent leave the suggested donation and 20 percent leave less, typically significantly less."

As you can read below, they ask for volunteer time if you can't pay at all.  This is an amazing thing. It is so win-win. Panera can write off its left over inventory as donation (since the food at a Panera Cares is day-old) and those who can't afford to eat get food.  I haven't ever seen such a big win-win scenario before.