Panera Allegedly Fires Girl Over Viral Mac and Cheese Video

Like they always say, it’s often best to not ask how the sausage is made. In this case, it’s probably better to not see how the mac and cheese is cooked up at Panera Bread. A video shared on the app, TikTok, gave a first-hand look at the process of how the chain’s signature side is made.

After viewing the video, one may not look at that mac and cheese the same. It turns out that the company wasn’t too happy about the video leak and ended up firing the employee who shared it on the app.

She ended up revealing her fate on Twitter.

“It went viral on tik tok and ended up on the news where I live,” she said in a reply asking how Panera discovered it was her.

The video created quite the stir on social media as it left some Panera-lovers feeling a bit uneasy about the pre-packaged food.

Most, though, weren’t all that shocked at the revelation.

“[People] actually thought y’all were making fresh macaroni n cheese out back?” one user tweeted. “Like how’s this a surprise to [people]?”

Another user echoed a similar sentiment, “I don’t get what she’s exposing? Did people really think there was a chef hanging out in the kitchen of Panera Bread making their Mac and Cheese? This is literally how every fast food joint operates, don’t be fooled.”

“I don’t understand why this Panera Bread mac and cheese thing is blowing up?” one user wrote. “[As far as I know] they’ve never claimed to make macaroni there, on premises, fresh, unless I’m missing something?”

“Thanks to that person who tried to bust Panera for not making their macaroni [in-house] because it just made me realize I wanted it and we made a family trip for macaroni,” another comment added.

“People who are mad about this Panera macaroni thing have clearly never had to work in food service and have no right to complain about FAST FOOD,” a third added.

Panera hasn’t issued any statement or any reaction to the viral video outside of the reported firing of the employee. They are also not the first restaurant to follow this method in preparing food. As long as the restaurants are clean, the practices behind the scenes aren’t typically a secret.