Panera To Add More Pay-What-You-Can-Afford Restaurants

A month ago, Panera Bread Co. opened its first non-profit, pay-what-you-can-afford eatery, called the Saint Louis Bread Company Cares Café, in Clayton, MO. And the restaurant chain’s chairman is so happy with the results, the company plans to launch two more in the coming months.

“I guess I would say it’s performing better than we even might have hoped in our cynical moments, and it’s living up to our best sense of humanity,” Panera chairman Ron Shaich said of the experiment.

The restaurant’s cashiers tell customers the suggested price of their orders and then the customers decide how much to pay. According to Shaich, between 60-70% pay the menu price. Around 15% dig into their pockets to pay a little more, while the other 15% or so pay less or even walk out paying nothing.

The restaurant, which features the same menu as Panera but is technically run by a non-profit organization called Panera Cares, took in $100,000 in revenue its first month. Panera supports the non-profit but is not on the hook financially if the pay-what-you-want restaurants fail.

Shaich didn’t say where the non-profit’s new locations would be. But a rep for Panera said they are looking for areas that will continue to attract an upscale diner, but is accessible to lower-income communities.

Read More: Panera Planning To Add More Pay-What-You-Want Restaurants

Coupon Craze: How to get the stores to literally pay you to take their groceries

Extreme couponing is becoming a way of life for many in the Lowcountry. Using coupons can save you thousands of dollars a year in groceries if you know how to use them correctly.

WCBD-TV News 2 Problem Solver Larry Collins takes a look that the Coupon Craze and how you can get the stores to pay you money to take their groceries. It’s a story you have to see to believe.

Watch this story: Coupon Craze: How to get the stores to pay you to take their groceries

Free Starbucks coffee on Tax Day!

Is this to celebrate tax day or preparation of Earth Week? I can’t decide, but either way it’s pretty great!

On April 15th, head to your local Starbucks with a reusable coffee mug and they’ll fill it with free, brewed coffee! I’m guessing this truly does mean drip coffee. 

Go HERE for more information.

SOURCE: The Coupon Project

Restaurant opens specializing in grilled cheese [VIDEO]

 

Watch this story: Grilled Cheese Restaurant Opens In Catonsville

The grilled cheese sandwich is one of America’s favorite sandwiches, and a local company is hoping to capitalize on its popularity.

April has been named National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Month.

In Catonsville, four local men who love the sandwich decided to open a restaurant devoted to it.

 Grilled Cheese & Company just opened this week at its location at 500 Edmondson Avenue.

 The founders of the restaurant said their decision to open the shop was inspired by their childhood memories of grilled cheese.

 The business offers all sorts of takes on the traditional sandwich, along with soups and salads to pair it with.

 To find out more about the shop or to see the menu: Grilled Cheese & Co.

 The grilled cheese sandwich first started appearing in the U.S. in the 1920s, and last year, 2.2 billion grilled cheese sandwiches were made and eaten in homes throughout America, according to statistics.

What happened when asking for extra peppers at Papa John’s

 

Papa John’s employee explains what may have happened to cause this.

I work at papa john’s. See, the thing is for every order of extra peppers we add in the computer, that actually equals four peppers that go in the box. So if someone on the phone was new and didn’t realize this, then say a customer asked for ten extra peppers. The newbie would add ten extra peppers. Then suppose a non-newbie boxed up the pizza. They would see 10 extra orders of peppers on there (4 per order) and thus give you 40 peppers.

SOURCE: ‘I Ordered a Pizza from Papa John’s and Asked for Extra Peppers’

KFC Double Down: New Sandwich Replaces Bun With Chicken [VIDEO]

Watch this story: KFC’s New Sandwich Replaces Bun With Chicken

First came boneless wings. Now KFC wants you to chow down on a sandwich that uses (what else?) chicken for the bun.

The KFC Double Down, which launches Monday, is essentially a sandwich with two chicken filets taking the place of bread slices. In between are two pieces of bacon, melted slices of Monterey Jack and Pepper Jack cheese and a zesty sauce.

How much will it cost? About $5 and 540 calories (460 for the grilled version), putting it on caloric par with fast-food standards like the McDonald’s Big Mac or a large order of french fries at Burger King.

But calories aren’t everything. Nutritionists caution that consumers also should pay attention to the sandwich’s salt and fat.

The Double Down has 1,380 milligrams of sodium (1,430 milligrams grilled). That’s close to the American Heart Association’s recommendation that adults eat less than 1,500 milligrams of sodium per day.

“This is not a healthy choice,” said Walter Willett, chairman of the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Health.

While Willett said eliminating the white bread is a good thing to do, “what really sets this product apart is the incredible amount of sodium in one sandwich.”

Elisa Zied, a registered dietitian and spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, said the 32 grams of fat is about half the total fat most Americans should be getting in an entire day. She also was concerned about the saturated fat content.

KFC’s timing with the Double Down — which will be available through mid-May — may seem odd when many fast-food restaurants are promoting healthier menu items to please an increasingly health conscious public.

KFC’s parent company, Yum Brands Inc., has committed to placing calorie counts on menu boards at corporate-owned restaurants nationwide by Jan. 1, 2011. A recently passed federal law eventually will require all chain restaurants to do so.

 But the company said the chicken-as-bun concept tested so well in selected markets last year they decided to introduce it nationwide for a limited time. KFC spokesman Rick Maynard noted that “more indulgent” sandwiches like the Double Down share menu space with lower-calorie options.

“That’s one of the things that make our restaurants popular,” he said. “We have something for everyone.” First came boneless wings. Now KFC wants you to chow down on a sandwich that uses (what else?) chicken for the bun.

The KFC Double Down, which launches Monday, is essentially a sandwich with two chicken filets taking the place of bread slices. In between are two pieces of bacon, melted slices of Monterey Jack and Pepper Jack cheese and a zesty sauce.

How much will it cost? About $5 and 540 calories (460 for the grilled version), putting it on caloric par with fast-food standards like the McDonald’s Big Mac or a large order of french fries at Burger King.

But calories aren’t everything. Nutritionists caution that consumers also should pay attention to the sandwich’s salt and fat.

The Double Down has 1,380 milligrams of sodium (1,430 milligrams grilled). That’s close to the American Heart Association’s recommendation that adults eat less than 1,500 milligrams of sodium per day.

“This is not a healthy choice,” said Walter Willett, chairman of the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Health.

While Willett said eliminating the white bread is a good thing to do, “what really sets this product apart is the incredible amount of sodium in one sandwich.”

Elisa Zied, a registered dietitian and spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, said the 32 grams of fat is about half the total fat most Americans should be getting in an entire day. She also was concerned about the saturated fat content.

KFC’s timing with the Double Down — which will be available through mid-May — may seem odd when many fast-food restaurants are promoting healthier menu items to please an increasingly health conscious public.

KFC’s parent company, Yum Brands Inc., has committed to placing calorie counts on menu boards at corporate-owned restaurants nationwide by Jan. 1, 2011. A recently passed federal law eventually will require all chain restaurants to do so.

But the company said the chicken-as-bun concept tested so well in selected markets last year they decided to introduce it nationwide for a limited time. KFC spokesman Rick Maynard noted that “more indulgent” sandwiches like the Double Down share menu space with lower-calorie options.

“That’s one of the things that make our restaurants popular,” he said. “We have something for everyone.”

Woman Opening Up Food Bank for Pets [VIDEO]

We have all heard of food banks and the impact they make on our community, but how about a pantry for pets?

It is the idea of Newberry’s Star Chappell, who within the last year learned about the special gift of owning
an animal.

“He’s truly changed my life, I mean he opened up my heart. I just never had to care for something that needed me that much,” said Chappell of her cat Trainor.

Last year Chappell was going through a very difficult time in her life when she found an  abandoned and very sick outside her restaurant.

She took him to a vet, where he needed a blood  transfusion and lots of tender loving care.

The cat’s name is Trainor and he’s all better now.

 
For as much as the animal needed a friend, Chappell did too.

Watch this story: Midlands Woman Opening Up Food Bank for Pets

Time-lapse of 1200 lbs. of cheese carved into Statue of Liberty [Video]

Champion cheese carver Troy Landwehr recently transformed a 1200 pound block of cheddar cheese into the Statue of Liberty. The entire process is captured with time-lapse.

 

Couple sees Jesus inside Cheeto [Video]

Many people have seen and heard about the likeness of Jesus turning up in unlikely places. Now, one North Texas family says they found Jesus in a cheese snack.

Dan Bell found his vision of Jesus last week at the gas station. “We were leaving town. I stopped by to fill up with gas and bought some snacks.”

Inside a 99-cent bag of Cheetos brand cheese snacks, Dan and his wife Sara found something unique.

Sara recalls the discovery. “I was putting them in my hand and I had eaten most of the ones in my hand, and one was left lying there. And I said, ‘Oh my gosh, look at this. It really looks like a person in a robe praying.’”

Dan looked over. “I said, ‘Wow, it does look like a praying Jesus.’”

The couple nicknamed it “Cheesus.”

“Cheesus” is about two inches tall. Despite missing a right arm, the Bells see a body, hair, robe and even a tiny face.

They say it is a reminder of their blessings from God; but primarily they think it’s a funny Cheeto.

Various incarnations of “Cheesus” have shown up before; in Houston, Missouri and on the internet site YouTube.

The Bells’ Cheeto ended up on the front page of the Preston Hollow newspaper. The big question, what to do with it now?

Dan says his first reaction was, “Let’s put this on eBay. How much do you think we should ask for it? It could be 25 cents, could be 25 dollars. If it’s only 25 cents, we’re just going to eat it.”

For now, they are keeping “Cheesus” in a plastic box.

Watch this story: Dallas Couple Sees Jesus Inside Cheese Snack

Coffee good for you after all

Coffee drinkers, rejoice! The heavenly brew, once deemed harmful to health, is turning out to be, if not quite a health food, at least a low-risk drink, and in many ways a beneficial one. It could protect against diabetes, liver cancer, cirrhosis and Parkinson’s disease.

What happened? Lots of new research, and the recognition that older, negative studies often failed to tease apart the effects of coffee and those of smoking because so many coffee drinkers were also smokers.

“Coffee was seen as very unhealthy,” said Rob van Dam, a coffee researcher and epidemiologist at the Harvard School of Public Health. “Now we have a more balanced view. We’re not telling people to drink it for health. But it is a good beverage choice.”

As you digest the news on coffee, keep in mind that coffee and caffeine are not the same thing. In fact, “they are vastly different,” said coffee researcher Terry Graham, chairman of Human Health and Nutritional Sciences at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. One can be good for you; the other, less so.

“Coffee is a complex beverage with hundreds, if not thousands, of bioactive ingredients,” he said. “A cup of coffee is 2% caffeine, 98% other stuff.”

Before we rhapsodize further, a few caveats:

Caffeine — whether in coffee, tea, soft drinks or pills — can make you jittery and anxious and, in some people, can trigger insomnia. Data are mixed on whether pregnant women who consume caffeine are more likely to miscarry. In general, 200 milligrams a day — the amount in one normal-sized cup of coffee — is believed safe for pregnant women, said Van Dam.

For people with hard-to-control hypertension, a sudden, big dose of caffeine may boost blood pressure because caffeine constricts blood vessels. But decaf is fine in that respect. And even caffeinated coffee doesn’t increase blood pressure much once you drink it for a week or so, said Van Dam. In fact, the caffeine in coffee seems to have less of an effect on blood pressure than the caffeine in colas because there are so many other substances in coffee that have the opposite effect physiologically from caffeine.

One final caveat: The new research heralding coffee’s health benefits is not perfect. Most of the studies are observational; that is, they followed people over time and correlated health outcomes with coffee drinking — based on people’s recollections of how much coffee they consumed. The studies don’t prove that coffee was the cause of improved health outcomes. Still, the sheer volume of the research, and the fact that the conclusions line up so neatly, make it reasonably credible, researchers say.

Read more: Coffee won’t hurt you, research finds