Panera spells out sugary drink details to customers by the Financial Times

Sandwich chain uses cola cups listing teaspoons of sugar in move away from sodas.

Panera is unveiling cups that list how many teaspoons of sugar have been added to drinks, as the sandwich company battles for the lunch money of more health-conscious American consumers.

The new cups, which post sugar and calorie counts in large letters, reveal to customers that a 20oz serving of Pepsi, the cola Panera sells, has 17 teaspoons of sugar. This is more than double the sugar in Panera’s chocolate chip cookie, and also exceeds the daily limit of 12.5 teaspoons that the US government recommends.

The move comes amid growing pressure from regulators and consumers for a reduction in sugar and salt, which are linked to obesity and diabetes.

Panera has been a bright spot in an increasingly tough environment for eating out in the US. While traditional fast food stalwarts such as McDonald’s have grappled with a global shift in demand towards fresh food, Panera has benefited, with comparable sales growing between 4 and 5 per cent.

This year JAB, the investment group backed by Germany’s billionaire Reimann family, bought Panera for $7.5bn, a marker of how investors value so-called “fast casual” restaurants.

Panera’s move comes ahead of new government requirements for all packaged food and drinks to label added sugars, with a compliance date of 2018 recently pushed back. However, the sugar requirements did not apply to restaurants. “It’s up to companies to take the lead on transparency, not wait for legislation,” said Ron Shaich, Panera chief executive.

Another piece of Obamacare legislation requiring restaurant chains with at least 20 stores to post calorie counts on menus has also been delayed. Panera and some other restaurants already list nutrition information on food menus, but drinks increasingly have been a target in the battle against obesity.

The company aims to shift more customers away from sodas, and the decision to post sugar in teaspoons instead of grams was deliberate, said Mr Shaich: “the only people who know what grams are are drug dealers”. Panera in March unveiled a new line of drinks with less or no sugar added, and says that since then 8 per cent of customers have opted for these drinks over soda.

US soda sales have been falling for more than a decade as sweet drinks have come under fire from regulators and health officials for contributing to obesity. This week Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and other soft-drink makers agreed to limit the amount of sugar they use in beverages sold in Singapore. In the US, local governments in cities such as Seattle and Chicago have raised the idea of so-called soda taxes.

Panera aims to roll out the cups across its 2,100 restaurants by next month. This year the Missouri-based company said it had stripped artificial ingredients from its food as part of a campaign to position itself as the healthier alternative to the likes of McDonald’s.

McDonald’s has taken steps to stay relevant amid disruption by Panera and Chipotle. The world’s largest burger chain has removed artificial ingredients from chicken nuggets and said it would use fresh beef in quarter pounders.

Shares in Panera have risen 46 per cent in the past year, while rival Chipotle’s stock has dropped 21 per cent.

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