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After revealing this secret about how one of Panera Bread’s most popular dishes is made, an employee ended up losing her job. The reason for being fired? Exposing how this well-regarded dish isn’t as handcrafted as expected.
So, what secret did the Panera Bread employee reveal that was supposed to be kept under wraps? In a video that was posted on TikTok, the employee showed how Panera Bread workers are expected to make the company’s infamous macaroni and cheese.
Wait for it.
The video shows the employee dropping a bag of frozen macaroni and cheese into a pot of boiling hot water. After it is thoroughly heated, the bag is grabbed, opened and poured into a bowl, ready to eat. And that is that.
After the video was posted showing how Panera Bread makes their macaroni and cheese dish, it quickly went viral, gaining over 950,000 likes, 114,000 retweets, and more than 11 million views. It looks like a lot of people were genuinely curious about Panera Bread’s secret to success!
The video ended by showing the employee giving a thumbs up to the camera, with a big grin of her face. Although the video was clearly meant to be light and fun, it came with a heavy price.
lol i lost my job for this video https://t.co/0Ao8a4revN
— Bri (@BriiRamirezz) October 11, 2019
After being fired, the employee shared another video with tears in her eyes, explaining that she’d been let go and that her video was being shared all over the news.
CNN reached out to Panera Bread, and a spokesman replied saying that they don’t comment on personal matters, but did let it be known that their meals are shipped frozen. They said that they do this so certain preservatives can be left out that don’t meet clean standards the company has set in place.
“Mac and cheese is made off-site with our proprietary recipe developed by our chefs and using our sourced ingredients that meet our standards for our clean menu offerings.”
The same item is available on grocery store shelves for people to enjoy at home, although that version doesn’t arrive frozen.
