Panera Bread Learns People Are Basically Good - A blog by Cindy Hoot

Panera Bread sets an example with its non-profit cafe and challenges other corporations to push their philanthropy beyond writing checks.

Last month, I blogged about Panera Bread’s new non-profit cafe in St. Louis dubbed the St. Louis Bread Company Cares Cafe. The idea was simple… take whatever you want to eat or drink and instead of paying a cashier, drop whatever you can afford into a donation box.

Ron Shaich, who stepped down as Panera’s CEO last month, opened the non-profit cafe “to find out what human nature is all about”. He said he’s dreamed about doing something like this for years. Now, the cafe has been open over a month, and we want to know… what’s the verdict?

Did Panera’s social experiment prove that people are basically good at heart?

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