Yunus and Shaich: Good people who believe people are good

Panera Bread, with its "pay what you can" cafe, is breaking new ground in business research with its bold experiments. More data over a longer term period is needed to reach a verdict, but the evidence so far indicates that the scheme has struck a chord among patrons and the community.

Dr. Muhammad Yunus of Grameen Bank stated that the normal state of people is that they are basically good. The Chairman of Panera Bread, Mr. Shaich, echoes the same thinking when trying to explain the concept.

A good reason to spend one's food dollars at a Panera!

Panera's pay-what-you-can cafe is a success - Business - Retail - msnbc.com: "It was a year ago that Panera converted the Clayton restaurant into a nonprofit pay-what-you-want restaurant with the idea of helping to feed the needy and raising money for charitable work. Panera founder and Chairman Ronald Shaich said the café, operated through Panera's charitable foundation, has been a big success, largely because of people like Thornton.
'Sometimes you can give more, and sometimes you can give less,' said Thornton, a teacher's assistant. 'Today was one of my 'more' days.'
Panera, based in suburban St. Louis, has long
been involved in charitable giving, donating millions of dollars and giving away leftover
food to the needy. But Shaich sought more
direct involvement.

"We were doing this for ourselves to see if we
could make a difference with our own hands,
not just write a check, but really make a c
ontribution to the community in a real,
substantive way," Shaich told The Associated
Press.

What developed was the largest example yet of
a concept called community kitchens, where
businesses operate partly as charities.
Panera's success in Clayton has led it to open
two similar cafes — one in the Detroit suburb
of Dearborn, Mich., and one in Portland, Ore. It
plans to add a new one every three months or
so.

The majority of patrons pay retail value or
more. Statistics provided by Panera indicate
that roughly 60 percent leave the suggested
amount; 20 percent leave more; and 20
percent less. One person paid $500 for a meal,
the largest single payment.

"From the day it opened, the community has
just gotten stronger and stronger in their
support of this," Shaich said. "They got that
this was a café of shared responsibility."

The Clayton restaurant could pass for any of
Panera's nearly 1,500 cafes. Soft jazz plays as
people chat quietly. Men in suits sit at a table
next to women in tank tops. Fresh breads and
pastries entice from behind a glass counter.

The smell of coffee fills the air."