Panera is not that great, it’s ok if there’s nothing else. But to compare Panera with “expensive hospital food” is crazy. Have any of you actually had hospital food? I have a chronic illness and been in hospitals since I was a teen. The food in hospitals are actually atrocious. The breakfast they serve with wet “scrambled” eggs I’m sure was just fake powered rehydrated eggs. The dinners with the gray looking meat and stale looking pasta and old moldy broccoli. I have never had a good meal while being a patient. I think what happened was someone complained and said this tasted like hospital food and now everyone is joining in and they don’t want to be outed as the guy that likes Panera.
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It’s more along the line of prison food. Everything precooked and in bags. Warm it, dump it, serve it
I thought you were talking about pantera
People saw someone else say “expensive hospital food” once and then kept repeating it. If I was in the hospital I would love to eat Panera lol.
I think for people like me, we just remember when Panera was legitimately good food.
As they expanded they cut corners everywhere and became more and more bland and use much lower quality and less tasty ingredients.
In many ways this is an objective fact because Panera actually has cut these corners. Hospital food or not.
Paneras food is okay and their bread is great. With that said, I’ve gotten better food from the hospital cafeteria.
From a ranking perspective, Panera is only slightly better quality than a Subway but it’s worse quality than a Chipotle, Chick-fil-A or Culver’s.
Hmm? There are a variety of levels of hospital food in this country. Some are decent.
The real issue is the quality of food at Panera compared to other chains. There has gone down drastically in the past 15 years. Sure, there’s a few things people still love but it’s really bad overall. I think people are frustrated when they compare it to hospital food.
I just had Panera for the first time in about 3 years and the quality has plummeted.
It ain’t hospital food, but it’s nowhere near as good as it once was
I read that as “Pantera” and was about to tell you how they’re now a cover band.
Panera is good for what it is, basic food. Bread, pastries, sandwiches, soups. It’s not great and it’s not terrible
It’s less that Panera is so bad and more that the hospital food is probably better than you’re giving it credit for.
The Mac n Cheese is great
Yes it is, and yes it does. Take my upvote.
Panera wouldn’t be bad if they weren’t so expensive and skimp out out on sandwiches more than anyone else in the game.
One time when I was in the hospital I ordered a chicken salad. They served me 3 pieces of soggy lettuce with a pate of canned chicken on top. Yeah, I’ll take the Panera any day.
its not that panera is gross, its that their quality and price point dont match.
Depends on the hospital. Military hospital the food was amazing. Panera tastes great but the portions suck for the price
Glorified freezer food is a better comparison
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I like Panera.
theres a panera inside my local hospital so panera is hospital food to me…
It’s too expensive for such small portions. That’s my biggest issue with Panera.
Overpriced
I’d call the food average chain food at best. The problem is, when you also consider the price, it’s insane. Personally I have no idea how they stay in business.
Have you ever tried Panera before 2010s?
Obviously not the hospitals you’ve been in, but some hospitals are working to change their food. When I had my last baby, the food was so good my husband skipped going out for food and just ordered from the hospital menu, and this is a man who will take any and every opportunity to eat out if he can. The food was good, well cooked, had a variety of options. It was honestly operated more like a restaurant than a hospital or school cafeteria.
I think for mine it was a part of their community wellness programs. They had exercise programs, PT offices, cooking classes, parenting classes, coffee get together for different groups, they were even hosting addiction recovery meetings. And having a good cafeteria right there was a big part of that, people would be able to grab a healthy snack, a quick lunch, hang out over decent coffee.
Panera is just acceptable. Having said that line while sighing, it shouldn’t be so expensive
It’s aggressively mediocre
Panera is my favorite lol i like bread and soup and sandwiches. What’s not to like – they have drive thrus all over which is awesome and their green tea is nom. Bagels are decent with a nice selection of cream cheese. Flavored coffee, BREAKFAST QUICHE, and a smoothie will start your day off right. Hospital food varies in my experience but Panera always slaps
I LOVE Panera and nobody can change my mind.
I have had hospital food and thought it’s really good. I would rather be in a hospital than a panera.
I feel like people who say this have gotten lucky. I was hospitalized for 36 hours about two years ago, and the two meals they gave me were borderline inedible. There was literally no seasoning, portion-sizes were tiny to the point it was almost comical, and everything was so overcooked and dry you’d choke to death if you didn’t down your entire little water pitcher with your meal. I swear to god, it’s like they cooked the patient’s food by sticking it into an oven and pulling it out about 30 seconds before it turned into charcoal.
As mediocre as as Panera is, I’d take it over any of the crap the hospitals around me serve any day of the week.
I have only had one type of sandwich at Panera and I absolutely love it so I couldn’t say if Panera is bad, however, some hospitals have excellent food. I work for a gigantic hospital system in the south. Our flagship hospital has the best food. Some of my coworkers used to go there for lunch when we still went into the office. Hospital food depends on what hospital.
The hospital I used to work in had much better food than Panera. Mediterranean diet-centered, made fresh.
I just spent three nights in the hospital with my wife. Every meal was better than anything I have had at Panera in the last 5+ years. If the hospital portions were slightly larger there would be no comparison!
I have never heard of this.
And I used to work at a Panera.
I have two young kids born in two different hospitals. Both had way better food than Panera.
Is your implication here that the “popular opinion” is that people genuinely equate Panera and hospital food? That seems unlikely that they generate over $6B from customers that really like hospital food.
Aside from the bakery, the other food is the the same quality as an average military dining facility. Not a favorable comparison
Depends on the hospital. Where I live I was able to order sushi and filet mingnon after baby. Our hospital has a chef and prides itself on an all organic kitchen.
I once got a Panera sandwich and it tasted like a 3 day old cafeteria discard
I agree with you. My dad works in a hospital and when I have lunch with him I bring us food from elsewhere to eat because his job’s food is horrendous.
Panera Bread is delicious.
One of my local hospitals has some pretty good food. The carrot cake is delicious.
I’ve had better food in a hospital
lol Panera is great. Idk what people are talking about
The hospital food at University of Iowa hospital is actually better than Panera
Never go there. Used to hit the one in downtown Ann arbor for convenience, but never like, oh shit I need to get to Panera .
I work in a hospital. The absolute garbage they serve is appalling. Nothing but frozen fried food, pizza, and burgers. The salad bar is just lettuce, cheese, and olives. It’s like they want us to be sick.
Au contraire, Panera does taste like hospital food, but that’s because hospital food is good actually.
That is my unpopular opinion.
I love this band.
The hospital I work at has pretty good food in the cafeteria but Panera is better. And they seem to cost roughly the same 😬
I work at a hospital that is known for its good food. An American hospital too! I’ve never tried it but all I ever hear from my patients is how good it is. The cafeteria food I’ve tried is pretty damn good too
What kind of terrible hospital are you going to? I developed asthma last year and spent about 3 weeks in the hospital and that was some of the best food I ever had.
Panera served me raw chicken on 2 different occasions. Fool me once and so on…
Panera is bland but fine. Panera hate is equally bland.
Yeah true reddit is full of bigs macs vomit burgers, Popeyes dry hard chicken , 5 guys greases, and gross taco Bell. Panera tastes more cleaner and their salads are tasty
BreadCo was great, Panera is kinda meh
The hospital near has Panera in it
“Panera is fast food for people who think they’re too good for fast food”. -unknown
In the hospital right now, had some pork the other day that was really tasty.
I eat hospital food every single day (I work at one, it’s cheaper to eat there than pack).
I also live down the street from a Panera.
If given the choice, I’d probably choose hospital food. At least my hospital, for the most part, home makes their food.
Exactly. The hospital where I go serves incredible food and the chefs win awards every year.
Panera is far below what they serve there and anything that level would be QA’ed out before nutrition would allow it to be served.
So I agree. Not comparable in the least. Panera is more prison or soup kitchen quality and definitely not comparable with any hospital food I’ve tasted.
Idk who is saying Panera is hospital food, I think it’s good for the most part.
However, hospital cafeteria food can be 🔥.
There was a panera’s at the hospital my mom was staying at. She gave me her debit card and told me to go buy something downstairs so she didn’t have to eat the hospital food lol.
Some hospitals have great food. Some serve what looks like rejected frozen school lunches
I had pretty good hospital food and they had an extensive menu where you could order however much you wanted at a time. Panera i think is kind of expensive for the amount you get. I haven’t been there in years
My friend wanted to get food there once so I was kind of forced to get it and honestly it was pretty good. I was expecting to get skimped but the sandwich had a lot of stuff on it and the quality was good too.
hospital food is pretty good but panera is better imo – hospital only sucks if you dont eat a balanced diet and dont know you can order specific foods. coming from someone who has stayed in the hospital for a nervous system disease
Panera is airplane food for people who are afraid of flying.
I have had decent food from a hospital cafeteria, but it usually is pizza, a McRib style pork sandwich, or a burger.
But I will say that panera is an absolute rip off and it deserves to be boycotted by everyone.
I would eat KFC before I would give Panera one more dollar for their pathetic sandwiches or salads.
Too expensive.
Why do I feel like OP heard one person compare Panera with hospital food and was like, “I must take a stand against this hugely popular opinion?”
to be fair the cafeteria hospital food is pretty good
Depends on the hospital. My two serve good food to the patients and visitors and staff
Sadly, our hospital cafeteria has better food and actually is cheaper. I work at a hospital.
Panera used to be so damn good. It’s all slop now. Absolute slop.
Have you seen the fake grill marks?
It’s not that’s it’s bad. It’s that it’s absurdly overpriced for what you get
I literally go to the hospital cafeteria for lunch and I would say definitely Panera quality. Fresh salad bar, decent soup, and decent sandwiches. And very cheap.
I was admitted for 2ish weeks in 2021 and the food was infinitely better then Panera. Calling it “expensive hospital food” is giving it far too much credit.
The hospital closest to me serves food on par with Panera. They even hung a poster with the chef on it, to show he’s coming up with menus and whatnot.
Their sandwiches are goopy
I love those wet scrambled eggs, and also Panera is great
I’m more mad that they have taken most things I like off the menu. There is little reason to go now when what I want doesn’t exist anymore.
i’m sorry the food in your hospitals are atrocious but as a medical professional and someone with chronic illness i notice the better the quality of care in a hospital, the better the food generally
I worked as IT in a new hospital and I willingly ate lunch there every day, it was pretty good and reasonable.
I’d say the comparison is pretty apt tbh. Though it’s less of an insult with how good some hospital food can be.
It isn’t that bad nor is it all that good..
I’ve gotten better food than panera at a few hospitals. I’ve definitely had worse as well. My main complaint about panera is that they are way overpriced for crap they hastily slap together.
I only go to hospitals that have Panera in their cafeterias
Panera makes excellent food, that’s why it’s so expensive. It could be better, but as franchises food goes, it’s some of the best.
As for hospitals, where I go the food is excellent, and is the same food employees and visitors eat all day long.
Full menu 24/7, everything made from scratch. They have hand tossed pizza, hand packed open grill burgers, fresh seafood and bread bought daily, and salads with thirty ingredients to choose from.
Almost all of their 1400 employees eat there several times a day.
Panera is actually hospital food around me
Like, the cafeteria at the local hospital is literally a Panera
Having said that, Panera isn’t horrific, it is just that the value has gotten worse vs the competition. The salads feel like they are half the size and twice the money as they used to be.
Also, I have grown up and learned things over the past 20 years, and now I know that a mountain of bread is not wholesome, but quite unhealthy. So those tasty cheesy paninis actually leave me full of inflammation and feeling quite shitty compared to other fast casual choices.
If I need fast casual, I will go to Buona, Potbelly, or the local regional Mexican chain first
Panera for me is now basically travel food
I say this as a person who is totally on board with getting sick of people who over-hate on chains. I can’t tell you the number of times a coworker has suggested their favorite hole in the wall whatever, and it was absolutely not any better than many chains.
Last time I ate at a Panera it was in a hospital (just outside the cafeteria), and it sucked. The food in the cafeteria itself was better (and cheaper) and that was saying a lot.
Huge upvote, unpopular opinion. It’s worse than the hospital food I get at my local place, by a long shot, and I’ve been known to spend time in my local hospital every year.
Panera is fine but the prices do not match the quality of food
Panera is what they serve in the waiting room of hell.
I work in a big hospital. Our food is pretty good. It’s definitely better and cheaper than Panera. Everything is fresh. They have rotating specials every day. And they have pizza, burgers, and sandwiches. Hospitals can vary. But a lot of them actually have really good food.
The main complaint about Panera is comparing it to its former self, where stuff was made fresh in the store and not just microwaved prepackaged crap.
I fucking love Panera, but I don’t care about anything other than bread or soup in that department. A good little baguette chunk and some fucking mac and cheese is killer on a cold day.
I’ve never been admitted to a hospital, but I’ve had my fair share of hospital cafeteria meals, and honestly, the cafeteria food is pretty good
I saw a Panera in a hospital recently… soo technically that makes Panera hospital food.
Panera went from being good fast casual to being fairly bad. Their bread is still decent, however.
I’ve had more than my share of hospital food for various reasons and I’d take it any day over Panera. Hospital food will be cheaper too.
When I had my kids and was in the hospital for a few days, the food was legitimately amazing. Don’t get me wrong, I like Panera, but I looked forward to giving birth so I could order whatever I wanted 🤣
Panera is pretty decent.
But “hospital food” really depends on the hospital. My local hospital has fantastic food. Like, it’s legitimately really good.
They are both supplied by the same place at some point in the supply chain. lol
I agree hospital food is better than Panera. Comparing them is unfair
I love Panera… yummmmm
Lol maybe my local hospital just sucks but Panera definitely has better food. I had a family member in the hospital long term due to cancer a while back and the food they served him was terrible- mushy, wet, or burnt slop. I think people compare it to hospital food to emphasize how Panera is definitely not as good as it used to be, but yeah, the comparison is definitely an exaggeration to make a point- not necessarily a factual comparison. At least to me.
That’s definitely a hospital mileage will vary because the food I had after giving birth the three days they wanted me to stay was amazing. (Almost 20 years ago to boot.) But I also have had shite hospital food around the same timeframe too.
I don’t even understand the “hospital food” dig. I can’t speak for everyone else and don’t know what sort of hospitals they are going to, but my hospital’s cafeteria is spectacular. When I worked across the street from the hospital, I would routinely walk there for lunch because it was fresher, cheaper, and better than the diner next door or any of the fast food chains nearby.
Not as good as their early years, just fast-food now
There is a Panera in my local hospital.
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Nah. I will never let go of the time i ordered a $6 grill cheese. I expected slightly fancy. Got 1 piece of Kraft on basic sandwich bread
Wait a min, people dislike Panera? I love Panera!
I just get a salad with their Mac and cheese. Eat the bread with the Mac and cheese. Yum!
I don’t go there for the sandwiches.
Panera is OK, but way, way overpriced.
SOME Paneras are okay. There’s a good one that’s on the same street but like 2 miles down from a bad one. The “bad” one never has their chicken cooked right, never has bread bowls, never has broccoli cheddar soup, has the stupid ass new corporate looking design. The “good” one is just what the bad one was supposed to be. The good one is actually competent and stocks items that people want, and the food tastes like what the menu items are supposed to be and not gross.
It’s so expensive for what it is.
I was in the ICU for 3 and a half weeks and their food was really quite good. The menu was limited (particularly since I was on a low sodium diet ugh) but I had salmon frequently, cooked about as well as, say, Chili’s. Their green chile is so good that any time I’m across the street at my doctor’s office i walk over and grab a cup of it.
Definitely not, Phil Anselmo is a racist POS
Oh wait, never mind
Panera isn’t too bad
I’m sorry you have bad hospital food. In my area I’ve been in the hospital twice where I actually ate. The breakfast was nothing to write home about, but the lunch was very very good. I remember the one was beef tips, mashed potatoes, green beans, and I think a roll or something. It was very good.
This varies WILDLY by not just the country, or state, or even city, but at each hospital. One could be really great, the other could be prison food.
Panera on the other hand is the same no matter where you go. Panera sucks. People who unironically like Panera have no taste buds and love wasting money.
It depends on the hospital. Probably many or most hospitals have terrible food, but the hospital where I gave birth to my son had excellent food
The last hospital I was at had a Chick Fil A. I’ll take hospital food.
Wow, I mean I’ve seen some deranged straw-men on this sub but this one next level! lol…good stuff op!!
The salads are usually pretty good, just super overpriced.
The only problem I have with panera is that it is just WILDLY EXPENSIVE for what it is.
I personally still love Panera. I get it once a week and have the sip club. They load my sandwiches up. The soups I feel like they don’t taste as good as they used to. But I also really liked the hospital food I had when I was there for 4 days. So if I like “hospital food” then so be it!
I hate Panera
Panera has some of the worst salads I’ve ever tried
Hospital food is about the same as school lunches in a junior high school with a weak tax base.
Panera is 10X better than hospital food that I’ve had- and I don’t really like Panera. I’ve had far too much hospital food between my surgeries and my kids problems. None of it is good.