The Pastry Lady

It was a late Friday night.

We just ordered food at our local Panera Bread, gotten our iced teas and were now sitting out on the patio enjoying the unusually cool weather for a night in Florida.

It was a few minutes before 9pm (the time this Panera closed). As we sat eating our sandwiches (mine was the Italian Combo) the clocked clicked past 9pm and we saw in the distance a dark shadow in the parking lot.

The shadow, appeared to be the outline of a small elderly woman. She walked slowly towards us, up to the front door of Panera. In her hands she had several large containers and she gently knocked on the front door. (They were already closed and were cleaning up the kitchen, counters and dining room).

The young Panera employee greeted her at the door and welcomed her in warmly.

My wife and I's suspicion now began to grow. Who is this lady? Why does she have containers and what the heck is Panera doing letting her in after hours? Even though we were done eating, we decided to stay and watch to see what would happen.

She walked up to the counter, opened up the containers and the Panera employees brought all of the pastries over to her and set them by the cash register.

Then it occurred to us. This woman was: The Pastry Lady.

Do you know The Pastry Lady?

The person who comes at the end of the night to every Panera in the country to take the leftover old pastries. These "donated" pastries end up at churches, schools and non profit organizations all over. It's likely you have found yourself in a situation where donated pastries have been available to you. Traditionally, they are picked up and offered in a clear plastic trash bag. You never really know who goes to get them.....they just appear and someone might mention - "Oh these trashy bagels came from Panera."

This woman however clearly took her work very seriously....very carefully she began picking each pastry up and placing it into her container. She handled each one like a small child. Slowly she filled each container up and closed the lid.

She worked for about 15 minutes....us watching her every move through the window. The Panera employees were oblivious to her. They kept cleaning the kitchen and she took every pastry they had left out, home in her containers.

Although we should have, we didn't wait to see how she managed to get them all out to her car. However, it was the first time I had ever seen the phantom Pastry Lady appear to take away all the old unwanted bagels, muffins and cookies.

Who knew that such love and care could be put in to old pastries from Panera?

You would think with donated Panera goods being picked up every night all over the place that they would make this sort of attention a requirement. After all, they are famous for their baked items. Their bagels, breads, scones are direct representations of their brand and what they stand for. Why then, do they allow quality baked goods to be tossed into a trash bag?

What Panera needs is more high quality Pastry Ladies like the woman we saw. They need pastry ambassadors that can transport their goods to the right destination and treat them with the respect they deserve.

I mean really.....if your going to donate something.....do it the right way - the way of the mysterious woman we saw. Not the method most people take which is turning overpriced baked goods into trash.