Bedford Hills, NY (RestaurantNewsRelease.com) Panera Bread, the nation’s leading bakery-cafe concept, opened its twelfth southern NY location in Bedford Hills, NY on August 9, 2010. The new bakery-cafe is located at Bedford Greens on 117, 719 North Bedford Road (Rt. 117).
Panera Bread held an official opening event celebration on August 16, 2010 to welcome friends, local government officials, and the community at large. Plenty of well-wishers were on hand at the event, including Councilman Francis Corcoran and Town Supervisor Lee Roberts from the Town of Bedford. The official opening included a ribbon cutting and Panera Bread’s traditional bread breaking ceremony. As part of the celebration, Panera Bread donated $12,500 to Food Bank for Westchester (FBW). Christina Rohatynskyj, Executive Director of Food Bank for Westchester, states, “Panera Bread is a stellar example of corporate community commitment and corporate responsibility. The funds donated by Panera Bread will support Emergency Food Distribution, our core program. We are grateful to Panera for their generous donation.”
Food Bank for Westchester is the supply and support center for approximately 200 frontline hunger-relief agencies throughout the county, including soup kitchens, food pantries and others. FBW collects, warehouses, and distributes six million pounds of food a year and provides 95% of the food that is distributed to people who are hungry in Westchester. To learn more about Food Bank for Westchester, please visit www.foodbankforwestchester.org or call 914-923-1100.
“We are excited about the wonderful turn out for our official opening event and very pleased to make this donation to Food Bank for Westchester and to help our community at large,” said Tony Diaz, Operations Partner of Take Home The Bread, LLC, Franchisee. “We are deeply committed to helping the needs of the Bedford Hills community that we serve.”
Panera Bread has helped many charitable organizations through Operation Dough-Nation®, a program that allows Panera Bread and its customers to aid local charities. Cash donations made by customers in the Community Breadbox™ cash boxes at the registers are distributed annually to local charities. Panera also donates unsold bread to local area hunger relief agencies.
About Panera Bread Company