Out & About :: Panera's Bakers in Training Program

Our first field trip of this month was trip to Panera's with one of the local homeschool groups.  The children participated in Panera's Bakers in Training program ; before moving here I had no idea that Panera had such a program.

The Bakers in Training program takes young people (& parents) behind the scenes of Panera.  The girls were given (there's a participation fee) an apron and baker's hat for participating in the program.  A part of the participation fee goes to the No Kid Hungry campaign which is fighting to end child hunger.

Once it was time to begin, all of the children were given two loaves of the starter dough that Panera uses to create their baguettes.  One loaf was to be given back to the community.  Panera donates all of the leftover bread to various places that serve those in need.   They were given the opportunity to stretch and score the dough before it  went into the oven.

While the dough was baking, the manager took them on a behind the scenes tour of the restaurant. 

After the tour,  they return to their table and were given pumpkin cookies to decorate and take home.   While decorating their cookies, the manager shared the changes that Panera has been making to their food which includes removing unhealthy ingredients.

We all enjoyed the Panera field trip.  It was engaging and allowed the girls to see behind the scenes of one of the restaurants we frequent.  Our oldest daughter found it cool that Panera gives bread back to the community.