Creating a Community Cafe That Cares for Those in Need
•
0 likes•450 views
Ron Shaich discusses the creation of Panera Cares cafes, which are community cafes operated by the Panera Bread company that serve anyone in need. The cafes offer the full Panera menu to customers on a donation-only basis. The goal is to provide a dignified experience for all customers while also generating donations to be self-sustaining. The first Panera Cares cafe opened in 2010 and has been successful, with three currently open and plans to expand further. The cafes aim to make a meaningful difference in communities while also demonstrating humanity's capacity for good.
Recommended
More Related Content
Similar to Creating a Community Cafe That Cares for Those in Need
Similar to Creating a Community Cafe That Cares for Those in Need (20)
More from Sustainable Brands
More from Sustainable Brands (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
Creating a Community Cafe That Cares for Those in Need
- 1. Innovating Philanthropy: Creating a Community Cafe That Cares Ron Shaich Panera Bread
- 2. Innovating Philanthropy: Creating a Community Cafe That Cares Ron ShaichFounder & Executive Chairman, Panera Bread
- 3. Our Topic Today Panera Cares Cafes
- 4. Panera’s Success Enabled Panera Cares $4 billion Market Capitalization $3 billion Revenue 1,467 Bakery Cafes in 40 states and Canada 7 million Guests Each Week 60,000+ Team Members (as of March 29, 2011)
- 5. Panera’s Success Enabled Panera Cares Panera Bread has been the best performing restaurant stock over the last decade AND Panera has been the second best performing consumer stock on the S&P consumer index over that same decade.
- 6. Panera’s Success Enabled Panera Cares So, how did Panera Cares come about?
- 7. Panera’s Success Enabled Panera Cares I was looking for new ways to take Panera’s philosophy of making a difference through “conscious capitalism” and new opportunities to put our problem-solving skills to work directly in the communities that had given us so much.
- 8. The Problem I came to learn that 1 in 6 Americans live in “food insecure” households
- 10. Inspiration Have you ever worked in a food pantry or soup kitchen?
- 11. Inspiration
- 12. Inspiration
- 13. Inspiration
- 14. Studied “community cafes” Then we did what all entrepreneurs do… we studied what others were doing and came up with new solutions to the problems we saw.
- 15. Studied “community cafes” Experienced tiny facilities
- 16. Studied “community cafes” Experienced the negative energy of soup kitchens
- 17. Conceptualizing the Cares Cafe Commitment: use the Panera name
- 18. Conceptualizing the Cares Cafe Commitment: offer the full Panera menu
- 19. Conceptualizing the Cares Cafe Commitment: utilize a donation box instead of a register
- 20. Conceptualizing the Cares Cafe Commitment: Panera’s gift of the cafe to a 501c3 nonprofit Foundation
- 21. Conceptualizing the Cares Cafe Commitment: find eclectic, economically diverse neighborhoods
- 22. Moment of Truth Then we jumped off the high dive…
- 23. Moment of Truth Opening Day: Sunday, May 16, 2010
- 25. Post-Opening Evolution Learning: new means to communicate the concept were needed
- 26. Post-Opening Evolution Learning: team member concerns had to be dealt with
- 27. Post-Opening Evolution Learning: a mechanism for volunteers was needed
- 28. One Year Later… So, is it working? YES!
- 29. One Year Later… The community, and indeed the nation, was touched by the concept.
- 30. One Year Later… Let me show you a short clip about Panera Cares that ran on CBS Evening News last Christmas.
- 31. One Year Later…
- 32. One Year Later… We now have three community cafes open (Clayton, MO; Dearborn, MI; Portland, OR) and plan to add a new one every 4 months or so.
- 33. One Year Later… 500,000 to 1,000,000 meals expected to be served next year.
- 34. One Year Later… Generating enough donations for each cafe to beself-sustaining.
- 35. One Year Later… Excess revenue is used for ajob training program for at-risk youth.
- 36. One Year Later: Reflections Why does Panera Cares work? A dignified experience for all Trust through transparency Gives people the opportunity to make a difference in the world Humanity is good!
- 37. The Challenge of Panera Cares Will other companies step up to make a difference directly?
- 38. The Challenge of Panera Cares
- 39. Conclusion “I hope you will judge yourselves not on your professional accomplishments alone, but also on how well you have addressed the world’s deepest inequities…on how well you treated people a world away who have nothing in common with you but your humanity.” - Bill Gates
- 40. Conclusion This is the test for each of us.
- 41. Thank you.
Editor's Notes
- The stock is up 25x.
- The stock is up 25x.
- Let’s now talk about Panera CaresHow did it come about?READ SLIDEConscious CapitalismStakeholder vs. shareholderMedium term focusCulture of authenticity and transparency
- I was aware of the problem of food insecurity in America
- Have you ever worked at a food bank or shelter or similar community service?I regularly work in food shelters and nonprofits with my children I want my children to appreciate that others are in far greater pain than they are and to begin to act on their responsibilities to their community. What do you experience?
- Here’s what I experienced. Three years ago, I had the chance to work in a soup kitchen with my kidsWe experienced the inefficiencies of process and the indignities the people’s experiencesAs a business person, I kept thinking that we could do this better
- About two years ago, I had a revelation one night while watching NBC Nightly News piece on people who make a difference
- It hit me…Panera does this everydayWe open 2 cafes a week and employ 60,000 people We are focused on running restaurants…we could do thisI realized the difference we could make for us and as an example to other companies if we:Gave more than just cash donations Actuallyused our skills directlySo I asked myself, “why don’t we?”Which meant I really had to go do it
- We started by researching what was being done out there
- We saw small places that serve 40 or 50 people a day Very different from the thousand or more customers a week we serve at Panera
- It may fill your belly, but it leaves you with negative energy
- We realized that, in order to pull this off, we needed to offer the full bore Panera experience to attract hundreds, if not thousands, of visits a day
- We knew that if we were going to put the Panera name on the concept, it meant the full product lineThe expensive stuff…soups, salads, smoothies, antibiotic-free chicken and all
- We realized that we couldn't ask each person to present their 1099 form at the door…Some of these community cafes used registers to collect the money, but we said it was wrong.We wanted to protect the dignity of those without resourcesSo, we chose to use donation bins as our method of collection
- Me at NASDAQWe realized that our shareholders wouldn’t be happy with us giving away all of this foodSo we made an agreement with Panera to donate the cafe, but with the understanding that the cafe would have to sustain itselfSeparate entity from Panera LLCPanera Bread Foundation runs it 501c3 non-profitAll Panera LLC employees working on project are gratis (not being paid) (Ron, Kate, Scott, etc.)Only thing picked up by the store is its direct expenses (food, rent, etc.)Any revenues left over would be returned to the community in job training
- We realized that if the community was to sustain it, we needed eclectic communitiesPeople who had the need and people who had the means
- As an entrepreneur, I wanted to adjust and play with it and feel it myselfI stayed there for 2 weeks
- We had all these beautiful signs defining our concept and nobody read them or understood them.So, we added “talking signs”…people we call “greeters” were brought in to re-train every guest on how to utilize the cafe and our donation system
- It was also difficult for our team membersWe held ameeting the night before we opened and I realized that many of our own team members were customers/the people we were hoping to serveTheir concern took many forms:Worried they would lose their long-held jobs if it fails Anger at customers who laughed at usWe actually had to hold them back from judging And they also motivated us:a)Ms. Beth and her prayer
- Many of the people we served needed the meal/couldn’t contribute, but were uncomfortable taking anything for “free”So we added a volunteer option as a way for people to contribute and earn their mealWe saw (and still see) tremendous pride in people’s faces when they put the meal voucher (that they earned) in our donation bins
- It is working and sustaining itselfWe are paying our bills and generating several thousand dollars in excess revenue over expenses every monthMore importantly, people get it and are stepping up to help sustain us
- CommunityOne in five people really touchedVolunteeredBut there are still lots of ups and down (stories of customers)Tech workerClayton High School football playersJail guardsMikeAmazed: At the degree to which some people have the ability to not have empathy for those in painAnd that some people were offended that we actually feed those in needBut it still worked. Here’s the bottom line one year latera) 60/20/20
- We have begun to do direct programming (which I consider a triple leveraging) out of our Panera Cares cafesIn a partnership with Covenant House, we created a job and life skill training program for at-risk youthKids who have been ripped off the streets with nowhere to go and on a path to lifelong homelessnessJust graduated our first classNow all taxpayers
- A dignified experience for allPanera Cares cafes respect each and every person who walks through the doorsWe deliver the same Panera experience as a person would receive anywhere else as a means to build trust with our customers.Trust through transparencyWe let people know how we’re doing.Gives people the opportunity to make a difference in the worldPanera Cares is not some grandiose plan to eliminate poverty or hunger. Rather, the purpose is to demonstrate to individuals and corporations alike their true capacity to make change in the world.Panera Cares gives both employees and customers an opportunity to make a difference in the world. Panera brought our expertise, but that alone will not make these cafes succeed. 4. Humanity is good!This is about the collective power of people to make a difference.
- So here’s the challengeAre other companies willing to get their hands dirty in an effort to impact the world? To leverage their core competencies and skills they have perfected over decades in business to really make a difference?
- Imagine if Wal-Mart ran distribution for food sheltersImagine if Gap opened thrift shops. I hear Nordstrom’s has recently started something like this.Imagine if Home Depot rehabilitated housing in underprivileged neighborhoodsImagine if our banks provided financial literacyImagine if oil companies worked as hard to prevent the oil spill and our big manufacturing companies provided management talent