The Panera Last Supper

I’m sitting across from my fiancee in Panera as she enjoys her last bowl of chicken noodle soup. Tomorrow, Panera will be changing the style of their soup; switching to something that they claim to be more healthy. But health is not the issue– deliciousness is. Panera has been split testing the 2 different soup styles for some time now. A friend of mine who works at Panera informed me that the new soup is preforming very poorly and many of the guests prefer for the old soup style. Sadly, and to the disappointment of many, Panera is still deciding to switch to the new soup starting tomorrow.  Is Panera trying to jump on with the latest health trends or are they just trying to save some money by switching to a lower quality and watered down soup?

Whatever the case, it seems to be a bad decision, and an insult to many of Panera’s loyal followers. In my opinion, it’s a marketing failure. In my fiancee’s opinion, it’s a tragedy.