It’s the first week of September which means, cue Seinfeld’s George Constanza, we’re “shifting into soup mode.”
Panera Bread is right there with us, rolling out its new fall menu today. The seasonal offerings include the return of two soups: rustic baked potato soup and autumn squash soup.
The fast-casual chain is also adding a three-cheese lasagna soup to its menu for the first time. The soup has a ricotta tomato broth with Italian-style sausage, lasagna ribbon pasta, parmesan cheese, and asiago cheese.
Then there’s the ciabatta dippers for, as the name suggests, dipping into your hearty soups. You can pick up the French ciabatta dipper or a chicken pesto ciabatta dipper.
Rounding out the savory options is a harvest medley salad, with ingredients such as crunchy beet strips, mandarin oranges, and pumpkin seeds.
On the sweet side, Panera Bread’s fall menu will see the return of its chocolate chip bagel. The chain is also introducing two desserts: a PB&J cookie and cinnamon croissant bites.
Here’s the full list of Panera’s fall menu additions:
- Three-cheese lasagna soup (New)
- Rustic baked potato soup
- Autumn squash soup
- French ciabatta dipper
- Chicken pesto ciabatta dipper
- Harvest medley salad
- Chocolate chip bagel
- PB&J cookie (New)
- Cinnamon croissant bites (New)
Panera has been owned by JAB Holdings, a private investment firm, since 2017. Like many other chain restaurants, Panera has made changes in recent years to offset reduced foot traffic and customers’ discretionary income.
Last year, the chain announced it would close all its fresh dough facilities, switching to a par-baked model—when the bread arrives half cooked and is finished baking upon arrival, as Nation’s Restaurant News reported.
Panera has also tried new offerings such as stuffing salad into bread rolls.
Some of its plan seems to be working, as Panera recently told Fast Company that it plans to end 2026 with more locations than it had at the start of the year.