Panera Bread Goes Pink

Panera Bread is going pink to help fight breast cancer during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Teaming up with Moffitt Cancer Center, Panera invites guests to purchase its "Pink Ribbon Bagels."

Shaped in the form of the iconic pink ribbon, Pink Ribbon Bagels feature cherry chips, dried cherries and cranberries, vanilla, honey, and brown sugar, and are baked fresh each morning by Panera’s bakers at each bakery-cafe.

Last year Covelli Family Limited Partnership, a Franchisee of Panera, LLC was able to donate $15,000 to Moffitt Cancer Center and hopes to raise even more money and awareness this year.

Throughout October, the signature Pink Ribbon Bagel will be sold locally at 23 Tampa-Bay area Panera Bread bakery-cafes, with a portion of the proceeds from each bagel sold going to Moffitt Cancer Center.

This year, Panera Bread is making it even easier to help fight breast cancer with the Power of Pink Baker’s Dozen. Throughout the month of October, one dollar from any Power of Pink Baker’s Dozen of bagels sold will also be donated to Moffitt Cancer Center. 

 “The Pink Ribbon Bagel is a customer favorite, in part because it’s a delicious way to start the day and because each bagel sold helps bring us one step closer to finding a cure for breast cancer,” said Vikki Kaiser, Director of Marketing & Public Relations for Covelli Family Limited Partnership, a Franchisee of Panera, LLC. “Panera Bread is proud to work with the communities we serve to help raise money for such a worthy cause.  In our market, Moffitt Cancer Center will receive the funds we are able to raise from this campaign.”

A staple each October in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, donations from the sale of the Pink Ribbon Bagel have now raised more than $1 million nation-wide for breast cancer charities. 

The Pink Ribbon Bagel concept began in 2001 when Sue Stees, co-owner of 18 Panera Bread franchises and a breast cancer survivor, began searching for ways to help other women fighting the same disease. Her search led her to the kitchen where she developed the Pink Ribbon Bagel. She sold 27,000 bagels in her bakery-cafes that first year and was awarded the “You Can Make a Difference Award” from Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

To date, more than seven million Pink Ribbon Bagels have been sold.