Smart Food PR

Panera restaurants are engaging in a practice of smart food PR. The chain is listing the calories for each soft drink it offers on the side of the cup. That way consumers can know just how much sugar they are ingesting. The practice might hurt the company’s business in the short run. Margins on drinks are high, but the CEO is determined to offer healthy choices for Panera’s customers. Some consumers will stop imbibing the highest calorie drinks and others might forgo soft drinks completely. The chain is saying that is OK. Transparency is the better choice for a company like Panera which offers sandwiches and salads. The company believes in the long run its openness will add to the bottom line. Here is a hope that it does.