The restaurant chain that lets YOU choose what you pay for whatever you eat and believes other businesses should do the same

Panera Bread operates five cafes where customer's get to pay whatever they choose

The company launched the initiative to help the millions of Americans who can't afford to eat on a regular basis

The company has found only 20 percent of customers paid less than they should have

CEO Ron Shaich believes other companies should start to do the same



Restaurant chain Panera Bread is a $3 billion a year business with some 1,600 outlets in the U.S. but at five of those cafes customers are able to pay whatever they choose for what they eat.



The unusual concept is part of an initiative by the company to help some of the millions of Americans who can’t afford to eat on a regular basis.



The five special restaurants operate under the ‘Panera Cares Café’ brand and instead of cash registers, donation boxes sit on the counter, with signs telling customers: ‘Take what you need; leave your fair share.’

Instead of cash registers, the five Panera Cares Cafés have donation boxes on the counter, with signs telling customers: 'Take what you need; leave your fair share'

The usual concept is part of an initiative by the company to help some of the millions of Americans who can¿t afford to eat on a regular basis

When the cashiers take meal orders, they hand receipts to customers which show how much the food would normally cost, and then the customer decides how much to leave in the box or to take off their credit card.



The first cafe opened in the St. Louis suburb of Clayton in May 2010 and since then four others have opened in Dearborn, Portland, Chicago and Boston.

Between then, these five cafes are expected to serve more than a million people in 2013.

The concept of a pay-what-you-can restaurant isn’t new, but Panera is the first major corporation to do it.

CEO and co-founder Ron Shaich told Quartz that he thinks other major companies should start to do the same.

The concept of a pay-what-you-can restaurant isn't new, but Panera is the first major corporation to do it

Panera has found that 60 percent of patrons pay the suggested price, 20 percent pay less or nothing, and another 20 percent actually pay more

'Home Depot has the capability of helping after major storms. The Gap could run thrift stores,' he said. 'It’s a challenge to view your business as not just extracting profit from society.'

Panera Bread funds the building of the cafés and then donates them to the Panera Bread Foundation, a separate non-profit entity.



Each café is expected to be self-sustaining and so far the model is working. Panera has found that approximately 60 percent of patrons have paid the suggested price, 20 percent have paid less or nothing, and another 20 percent have actually paid more than the cost of their meal.



One exception was in Portland, Oregon, where students from a nearby high school abused the system until the manager spoke to their principal and a letter was sent home to parents.



Now, if customers can’t - or don’t - pay come in more than once a week, they are asked to volunteer their time to help clean tables or another such task.



Any profits from Panera Care cafés go to helping at-risk teens, providing them with job and life skills and sometimes even the offer of a job.

CEO and co-founder Ron Shaich believes that other major companies should follow his company's lead







