A Panera customer was recently underwhelmed by the “Asian chicken bowl” he got at the restaurant, and thought the world needed to know.
TikToker Matt (@matt_epstein) drew more than 26,000 views in 23 hours to a greenscreen video he posted on Monday afternoon. There, he superimposed himself over an image of what appears to be Panera’s Teriyaki Chicken & Broccoli Bowl and delivered his missive about his disappointment.
@matt_epstein #greenscreen ♬ Paris – Else
“I was just tricked into one of the biggest scams out there,” he begins. “And it comes from a little company called Panera Bread. Let me explain.”
He continues, “So, today, I went to Panera Bread for the first time in maybe two or three years. I ordered their Asian chicken bowl, and here’s what I got. Now, you can’t tell that much from this picture, but this thing was tiny. Like, look how thin the bowl is. It wasn’t even nearly full.”
He then invokes science: weighing it and determining it contained a “whopping 6.7 ounces of food and 2.1 ounces of chicken. Yup, four pieces of chicken. And this bowl was $15.50. Yup. You heard that right.”
Tying into his page’s “breaking down company strategy” theme, he concludes, “Now, I’m no finance guy, but it’s hard for me to imagine that this company isn’t in financial trouble if this is how they’re treating their customers. I think Panera Bread is a massive short.”
According to Panera’s site, the Teriyaki Chicken & Broccoli Bowl retails for $13.39, contains 600 calories, and is comprised of “cilantro lime brown rice and quinoa, chicken-thigh meat raised without antibiotics, broccoli, soy sauce-based teriyaki glaze, sesame seeds and fresh cilantro.”
In the comments section, viewers weighed in on Matt’s weighing in.
“Panera has been doing this for YEARS,” one charged. “In fact, that’s how they’ve been operating all this time. Nothing has changed.”
“It’s honestly jarring how expensive it is,” another observed. “Hadn’t been in awhile and I thought they charged me for an extra meal he read back [the] order and I just laughed.”
Yet another person said, “The side view of the bowl KILLED me,” before claiming, “Nah but fr they sell overpriced hospital food and up charge 50%.”
Someone else had advice on how to order at Panera, saying, “I get the orange scone. It’s really filling and great with their iced coffee. For a deal I get the value duet. It’s tomato soup, bread and a tuna.”
But one said never again: “Bought the half sandwich and soup with drink and it was almost $19. I honestly wont go back its just ok and def not worth it.”
Someone else indicated it was better once, observing, “They’ve gone way downhill.”
Another commenter said it was a sign of the times, stating, “Every restaurant shrinkflation.”
Finally, one quipped, “Is just lean cuisine.”
The Daily Dot contacted Matt and Panera via email for further information.
