Panera Bread Catering: Menu, Group Sizes and Ordering Rules (2026)

Does Panera Bread do catering?

Yes. Panera Bread catering is a full menu built for groups, from bagel spreads for a morning meeting to boxed lunches and soup for a crowd. Panera's summer 2026 catering menu, the most recent catering menu we could open, splits it into breakfast, boxed lunches, sandwich assortments, salads, soups and mac, drinks and bakery.

Most of the food is the same as the cafe menu, packed differently. Sandwiches come as halves on platters, salads come in platters that serve 10, and soup comes in group containers. A few items are catering-only formats, such as Salad Stuffers, which are sold only in boxed lunches, and drink totes that hold about a gallon.

How does Panera Bread catering work?

You order through Catering.PaneraBread.com. You pick delivery or pickup, choose a date and time, enter the number of guests, and then build the order. Some Popular Bundles are sold online only.

Once the order is in, the cafe you chose prepares it for your time. Delivery orders carry a delivery charge, and Panera's catering menu notes that this charge is not a tip or gratuity for the driver. If you need more than 20 hot sandwiches, Panera asks you to contact the cafe directly, since hot food in that volume takes planning.

Panera's MyPanera Catering Rewards program gives $20 in rewards for every $500 spent on catering. For an office that orders lunch every few weeks, that adds up to about 4% back.

How far in advance should you order Panera catering?

Order at least a day ahead when you can. Panera accepts same-day catering orders with at least four hours' notice, although the catering menu says timing can vary by cafe, and any order placed within 24 hours depends on what the cafe has and whether delivery is available.

That makes the four-hour rule a floor, not a promise. Large orders, hot sandwiches, breakfast for early meetings and holiday weeks are the cases where you should give more time. If you need food before the cafe switches from breakfast to lunch, plan further ahead, because the kitchen runs the breakfast menu until about 10:30 a.m. on weekdays. Our Panera hours guide explains cafe hours and holidays.

What is on the Panera catering menu?

The catering menu has seven parts. The table above shows serving sizes for the main group items.

• Breakfast: Morning Continental (bagels, cream cheese, butter, orange juice and coffee for 8 to 10), Morning Pastries, Bagels & Morning Pastries, a 13-bagel Bagel Pack, egg sandwiches, frittatas, oatmeal, yogurt parfaits and fruit bowls for 5 or 10.
• Boxed lunches: a whole sandwich with chips and a cookie, a whole salad with baguette and a cookie, a Salad Stuffer with chips and a cookie, or a half sandwich and half salad with optional soup or mac.
• Sandwich assortments: hot or cold, Deluxe or regular, plus Assorted Bagel Stacks and the 24-half Entertaining Assortment.
• Salads: about a dozen choices such as Caesar, Fuji Apple, Green Goddess Chicken Cobb and Asian Sesame, each in two platters with French baguette.
• Soups and mac: group containers that serve 4 with four pieces of baguette.
• Drinks: cold totes of lemonade, iced tea or iced coffee in two half gallons (128 fl oz) and hot totes of coffee, tea or hot chocolate (120 fl oz).
• Bakery: a dozen cookies, brownies or Asiago Croissant Twists, and four personal Lil' Lemon Bundt Cakes.

How much is Panera Bread catering?

Panera's catering menu does not print prices, and prices are set by each cafe, so the only exact quote is the one you see when you build an order at Catering.PaneraBread.com. We did not find a current, official national price list, and we are not going to guess.

You can still estimate. Start from the serving sizes: a sandwich assortment feeds 5 to 7, so a group of 20 needs three trays or one Entertaining Assortment plus extras. A soup container serves only 4. For breakfast, a baker's dozen of bagels costs about $18.99 in the cafe, or roughly $1.46 a bagel, which is a good benchmark when you compare catering bundles.

For small groups, compare catering with Panera's regular $4.99 Mix & Match value menu, which lets you order up to 10 items per order. It is a cafe and app deal, not catering, so it suits a team lunch of a few people better than a big event. Details are in our Panera deals guide.

Can you cancel or change a Panera catering order?

Yes, if you do it early enough. Panera asks for cancellations at least four hours before the scheduled pickup or delivery time, and later cancellations may be charged. To cancel an order you placed online, call the bakery-cafe that is making it.

Keep the cafe's phone number with your confirmation, since the cafe is who you call for any change. If your headcount moves, call as early as you can, ideally the day before, so the cafe can adjust trays and soup containers. Remember that most group items come in fixed sizes, such as soup for 4 and salads for 10, so a few extra guests may mean adding a whole tray.

Does Panera cater weddings, parties or dinners?

Panera's catering menu has no wedding packages, full-service staff or long party subs, so it suits casual events better than formal ones. The biggest single item for a crowd is the Entertaining Assortment of 24 cold half sandwiches, which Panera says serves 15 to 20.

For dinners, you choose the pickup or delivery time, and the cafe's lunch menu runs into the evening, so soups, salads and sandwich trays work for a dinner meeting or a casual party. For a birthday, pair a sandwich tray with a dozen cookies or brownies. For a large event, call the cafe first to check what it can produce. For individual prices on the cafe menu, see the full Panera Bread menu, and for morning events, our Panera breakfast menu guide.