A video of mac and cheese being prepared inside a kitchen at one Panera Bread location has quickly gone viral online.
The shell-shaped pasta with a white cheese sauce comes from the freezer in a vacuum sealed bag, gets dropped into boiling water, removed, cut open and poured onto a plate.
The company states on their website that they “believe that good food, food you can feel good about, can bring out the best in all of us,”1 but one former employee’s recent social media post has caused some people to question that notion.
TikTok user Brianna Ramirez posted the video “how Panera prepares mac and cheese” on the music and lip dubbing social media platform with the caption “exposing Panera” set to a man laughing.
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At the time of publication, her video had more than 945,000 likes and nearly 9,000 comments.
The comments from other TikTok users were split, some saying it allows hot food in an instant:
That’s how most fast food restaurants prepare the food.
I mean… it’s still good.1
But others seemed insensed by the notion of flash-freezing items for consistent cookery. Someone said:
For the price this is dishonest from Panera, they are just a well designed McDonald’s with luxurious prices.
The company did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment, but earlier told The Washington Post, that they “confirmed the TikTok video’s authenticity.”1
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Panera Bread defended their product to The Washington Post and said the mac and cheese is, “made offsite with our proprietary recipe developed by our chefs,”1 adding:
It is shipped frozen to our bakery cafes — this allows us to avoid using preservatives which do not meet our clean standards.1
After the video went viral, the same TikTok user posted a series of videos in the face of the backlash to defend the practice of heating frozen food and delivered a tearful apology. She said:
I like my job, I’m really not trying to get fired.1
She shared the news on Twitter on Friday that she lost her job, and claimed it was because of the original post.
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When someone replied asking how the restaurant found out, she said “it went viral on tik tok and ended up on the news where I live.”
Panera has not commented on Ramirez’s employment status.
Ramirez did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
