A Panera customer was disappointed to find that his $15 chicken bowl contained what he considers barely any food.
In the video, TikTok user Matt (@matt_epstein) stated that eating at Panera is no longer worth it and warned others to stay away. “I was tricked into one of the biggest scams by this company, Panera Bread,” Matt said.
He explained that a little while back, he purchased one of their new bowls (his appears to be the Teriyaki Chicken & Broccoli Bowl). While he was surprised at the cost, about $15, he was curious how it would taste and set aside his pricing concerns to try it out.
But, when he finally got his meal, he was surprised by how shallow the bowl container was. Judging from the photo, the bowl is roughly two inches deep—not much space for a filling meal. “Take a look at the size of that bowl,” Matt said.
From the top view, you can see that the shallow container isn’t even completely full. There’s a solid perimeter of empty space all the bowl, indicating that the already small container is maybe half full. “No, I didn’t eat a single bit of this yet,” Matt said. “There was maybe six to eight ounces of food in this bowl.”
He added that Panera must be in “serious trouble.” Otherwise, he doesn’t understand “why they’d be scamming customers like this.”
@matt_epstein Panera bread is a scam
♬ Epic Inspiration – DM Production
The video is nearing 50,000 views and has over 500 comments. “Panera bread is a scam,” the caption reads.
The rise in price/shrink in size appears to be part of the “shrinkflation” trend. Shrinkflation is a combination of the words shrink and inflation. When combined, it refers to how some products shrink in size or quantity while maintaining the same price, so you end up paying more for less. This is usually done to offset rising production costs and/or maintain profit margins when faced with competition.
“Everything there has shrunk. Prices are crazy high,” a top comment read.
“You’re first mistake was going to the overpriced hospital food establishment called Panera Bread,” a person sad.
“Don’t go to Panera anymore they are tooooo pricey and little servings,” another wrote.
This is not the first time people have complained about shrinkflation. The Daily Dot has recently covered customers calling out Betty Crocker, Starbucks, and Walmart for decreasing product sizes while maintaining the same price.
The Daily Dot reached out to Matt and Panera for comment via email.
