Howley Bread Group And Its Seven Panera Cafes In Rhode Island Announce Partnership With Feeding America And Its Member, The RI Community Food Bank, In Fight Against Local Hunger

NEWPORT, RI, September 26, 2013 — In concert with Feeding America’s “Hunger Action Month” the seven Panera Bread bakery-cafes in Rhode Island (Cranston, East Greenwich, Newport, Providence, Smithfield, Wakefield and Warwick) announce that the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, a Feeding America® member food bank, will be the recipient of all the funds collected through the cafes’ ongoing Panera Cares Community Breadbox™ Program.  The Program gives customers the opportunity to donate money at the counter to support the Food Bank’s efforts to provide nutritious food to Rhode Islanders in need.  The seven participating Panera Bread bakery-cafes are owned and operated by Panera Bread franchisee, Howley Bread Group, LTD based in Cumberland, Rhode Island.  Howley Bread Group is opening a Panera Bread in Lincoln this winter which will also participate in the Program.

This commitment is part of Panera Bread’s ongoing effort to combat the problem of hunger in America.  For years, Panera Bread/Howley Bread Group has donated all unsold bread and baked goods each night to local Rhode Island food pantries and other organizations that provide hunger relief through its Day-End Dough-Nation™ program.  Collectively, the Panera Bread bakery-cafes across the country donated approximately $100 million worth of retail bread and baked goods in 2012 making the per cafe average annual bread donation approximately $146,000.  With this average in mind, the seven Panera Bread/HBG bakery cafes in Rhode Island provide a total annual food donation of approximately $1,022,000.

“We’ve been focused on doing our part to help those in need throughout the Ocean State for some time now with our Day-End Dough-Nation Program and numerous food drives,” said Bahjat Shariff, Vice President of Operations for Panera Bread/Howley Bread Group.  “When Panera announced its commitment to Feeding America, we were happy to know that these dollars would go directly to the Rhode Island Community Food Bank which distributes food to agencies serving the hungry throughout the state.  In addition to the financial support, the Panera Foundation will also help source higher quality food for our local food banks to offer.  This partnership means we now have the pieces in place to make an even greater impact on the food insecurity problem that continues to persist in Rhode Island.”  Shariff added that Howley Bread Group participated in a volunteer day at the Food Bank earlier this week to further engage its associates with Panera’s efforts to fight local hunger during “Hunger Action Month” and throughout the year.

A USDA report on food insecurity shows that hunger in Rhode Island now affects one out of seven households.  Each month more than 68,000 Rhode Islanders seek food assistance through the Food Bank's network of emergency food programs. Nearly one of every three persons served is a child under the age of 18.  In fact, according to the most recent U.S. Census survey, 21.9% of Rhode Island's children, one out of every five are living in poverty and just under 10,000 Rhode Island seniors, 9.3% of the state’s population, live in poverty.

“At this time of record-high need for food assistance, it is vitally important for us to have supporters like Panera Bread and Howley Bread Group,” says Andrew Schiff, Chief Executive Officer, Rhode Island Community Food Bank.  “On behalf of all Rhode Islanders who are hungry, I would like to thank them for this new, consistent source of income for the Food Bank.  This is a great community partnership that allows Panera’s customers to play a role in helping hungry families in their own communities.”

The Rhode Island Community Food Bank and Panera Bread encourage Rhode Islanders to do their part to fight food insecurity during Feeding America’s “Hunger Action Month”.  The many activities in which an individual or business can engage are: wear orange to show support for hunger relief; donate a portion of the daily proceeds from a business to fight hunger; organize a neighborhood food drive; post a picture/tag a picture on Facebook to call attention to Hunger Action Month; send an email to your friends about Hunger Action Month; donate a grocery store gift card to a local food bank; volunteer at a local food bank, pantry or shelter; or see if your employer will match employee donations to a local food bank, pantry or shelter during Hunger Action Month.

Feeding America secures and supplies more than 2 billion pounds of nationally donated food and grocery products annually to its network of 200 food banks across the country. The Rhode Island Community Food Bank, a member of Feeding America, is an innovative leader in solving the problem of hunger.  In partnership with its member agencies, as well as government and community leaders, it works to try and ensure that no one in Rhode Island goes hungry. Since 1982, the Rhode Island Community Food Bank has solicited, stored and distributed surplus food and grocery products to qualified member agency programs that serve Rhode Island's hungry.  Last fiscal year, 9.7 million pounds of food were distributed to the community through its network of 238 member agency food programs across Rhode Island.

All Panera Bread locations are open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and offer a variety of menu items, including breads and bagels, breakfast sandwiches, creative lunch and dinner sandwiches, pastas, hand-tossed salads, homemade soups and a variety of espresso beverages. Panera Bread Catering also caters and delivers its full menu for any occasion at the office or home.  The breakfast, lunch and dinner assortment is sure to impress every time.  For a Panera Bread Catering menu and more, please visit the cafe or www.paneracatering.com.

Howley Bread Group, LTD based in Cumberland, RI is one of Panera Bread’s top franchises in the country.  The franchisee owns and operates a total of twenty-six bakery-cafes in RI, Southeastern MA and Greater Hartford/Eastern CT markets.  For more information, please contact wendy.kopp@panerabread.com or visit the company’s web site at www.panerabreadhbg.com.  Also, like HBG on Facebook at /howleybreadgroup and follow the company on Twitter @panerabreadhbg to hear about upcoming new and returning menu items, community involvement and events, employment opportunities, their Panera culture and much more!