Panera Bread may be a nearly 40-year-old business, but the chain still knows how to jump on modern-day trends. Look no further than the bakery-café’s TikTok-inspired North Sea Soup Menu that debuted earlier this year, or the Roman Empire Menu available for a limited time in 2023. This week, the chain has another trendy offering hitting menus—and it pays homage to the signature breakfast food of Millennials.
Panera just announced a brand-new Millenial Meal that pairs avocado toast with iced coffee, both of which have become synonymous with the generation born between 1981 and 1996. The chain said the goal of the new meal is to “toast” Millennials after the Gen Z generation made a viral trend out of poking fun at the older age group on TikTok.
“While it has become common practice to roast Millennials and all the things they love (as seen in more than 61M posts on TikTok), Panera is taking an official stance on all things that are so good, they should never go out of style…” the chain said in a release shared with Eat This, Not That!
Customers who opt for the Millenial Meal will be able to choose between Panera’s Classic Avo toast (200 calories) and its Garden Avo toast (320 calories), both of which recently hit menus in mid-July. The former features chunky avocado spread and everything bagel seasoning on thin-sliced Country Rustic Sourdough. Meanwhile, the latter features the same Country Rustic Sourdough topped with chunky avocado spread, sliced tomatoes, everything bagel seasoning, and garlic aioli. Prices for the Classic Avo and Garden Avo start at $3.49 and $4.49, respectively.
Either avocado toast variety can be paired with Panera’s Iced Cafe Blend Dark Roast Coffee (0 calories), described as “rich, bold, and full-bodied” on the chain’s website.
The launch of the Millennial Meal comes just in time for National Avocado Day on July 31. In celebration of the holiday, Panera will give out free Avo Toast with any purchase to customers who use the code “AVOTOAST” at checkout. The freebie will only be available for one day, so interested customers will need to act fast.
In other Panera news, the chain debuted a controversial new breakfast menu in June that includes five new breakfast sandwiches and three types of cinnamon rolls topped with icing and pieces of other baked goods (officially named “CinnaTops”). Panera also debuted two new spicy sandwiches alongside its new avocado toasts earlier this month, as well as brought back two bagel flavors that were discontinued in April.
Zoe Strozewski
Zoe Strozewski is a News Writer for Eat This, Not That! A Chicago native who now lives in New Jersey, she graduated from Kean University in 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. Read more about Zoe
