I had the opportunity to experience the new Panera Bakers-in-Training program with my daughter and a group of her friends at our local Panera in Downtown Brooklyn. Panera Bread locations on Long Island, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island offer its Bakers-in-Training program a great way to introduce children to kitchen essentials and the fundamentals of baking. This was right up our alley! Isabella got to invite 10 friends and they were equally as excited as she was!
We were met by Anthony, the manager, and Blanca, one of the employees who run the Bakers-in-Training Program. These two were amazing and I cannot say enough about them. They made the kids experience a fun and memorable one. It’s not easy leading 7 excited third graders for an hour!
This fun-filled culinary experience is designed for kids ages 5–12, where Panera Bread will let them try their hand at different activities such as the craft of bread making by stretching and scoring French baguettes, decorating their own cookie and icing a cinnamon roll with tips from the managers. At our class, we baked baguettes! Anthony also lead them on a tour of the cafe (the highlight was the walk in blast chiller!) and show them the daily operations. Each child got to take home the bread that they baked-as well as some additional yummy treats and a Panera Bread hat.
One of the kids in our group has a gluten allergy and the staff went out of their way to accomodate. They gave her gloves so she didn’t have to touch the dough and could still participate with the other kids. She also got a gluten free treat at the end!
Made for groups of 10–15, this is a great activity for classes, scout groups and birthday parties. While registration is normally $20 per child, the Bakers-in-Training program at certain Panera Bread locations on Long Island, Staten Island, Queens and Brooklyn are free!
The classes run approximately one hour and should be scheduled at least six weeks in advance with a Panera Bread Manager at your chosen location. Classes are available to be booked starting between 2:00PM-4:30PM.
You can find more information on the Bakers-in-training program, by clicking here,
Would love to hear what you think!