Plant Chat: Katie Bengston, Nutrition Manager, Panera Bread

Welcome to my Plant Chat, Katie Bengston, MS, RDN, LD, nutrition manager for Panera Bread! It’s always so exciting to see how dietitians are making a difference everywhere—even in national food organizations. I am also impressed with how many healthy, plant-based items are on the menu at Panera Bread. Katie helps manage the nutrition analysis, ingredient, and allergen information for Panera, as well as provide expert nutrition guidance and help to shape the company’s nutrition and food policy strategies. Katie’s lifelong interest in food and nutrition motivated her to enroll at Saint Louis University in the Nutrition and Dietetics with a Culinary Emphasis program. After completing her dietetic internship, Katie went on to receive her MS in Nutrition at Saint Louis University. Katie worked in the clinical and health promotion field of dietetics before joining Panera. Continue reading to learn more about Katie’s work at Panera!

What was your journey to becoming a dietitian for Panera? Are you the first dietitian in this role?

I have always been passionate about healthy eating, cooking and exercising. I learned of the registered dietitian occupation when I was in high school and I knew right then that I wanted to pursue that career. I attended Saint Louis University where I received by BS in Nutrition and Dietetics with a Culinary Emphasis. Then, I went on to complete my Dietetic Internship and MS in Medical Dietetics at Saint Louis University. I worked in the clinical field for a couple of years before landing the job of my dreams, nutrition manager at Panera Bread – or St. Louis Bread Co. – as we still call it here in St. Louis. I am the first dietitian on staff at Panera, but Panera has always had a nutrition focus since the beginning just utilizing contract dietitians.

 What are some of your day to day responsibilities?

On a typical day, I will be managing updates to current ingredients and evaluating the nutrition, ingredient and allergen data for new ingredients that are part of existing or new recipes. We enter this ingredient information into our nutrition software to perform the nutrition analysis on recipes on a daily basis. People might not realize that the menu items on our current menu are just a fraction of the recipes we are working on at any given time. We are constantly testing new recipes and ingredients, revamping current recipes and working on upcoming menu changes. In addition, we review and approve marketing materials on a daily basis. We look at materials in print, online, radio, TV, within the bakery-cafe, and more. We also work closely with our customer resource group to answer nutrition, ingredient and allergen specific questions coming from guests.

How do you impact public health in your role with Panera?

Providing nutrition, ingredient statements and allergen statements for our guests impacts public health greatly. By providing the guest with information on what they’re ordering they can make an informed decision on based on their taste, diet and lifestyle preferences. We view transparency as a key responsibility of all foodservice operators and retailers. We have challenged the rest of the industry to do the same, not only in transparency, but also in the areas of clean food and animal welfare as well – all impacting public health positively.

Do you think that dietitians can play an important role working for restaurants, and how?

Yes! A dietitian working for a restaurant concept can be very beneficial. First, a dietitian can have an advantageous role in the research and development phase of new menu items by helping to create menu items to meet certain nutrition criteria or dietary preferences, and add a perspective not all chefs are in tuned to when creating recipes. They can also help with revamping current recipes to be healthier.

Second, with the federal menu labeling law going into effect in less than a year and other local and state menu labeling requirements increasing, a dietitian is a valuable asset to have on your team to navigate the menu labeling legalese and ensure your menus are in compliance with labeling requirements. Conducting nutrition analysis on recipes requires an expert in nutrition and someone with a good understanding of labeling requirements, like a dietitian.

Third, registered dietitian nutritionists can help with navigating the clean ingredient movement by understanding the function and quality of ingredients. It’s important to know what certain ingredients do when you’re tinkering with a recipe so you don’t end up sacrificing quality or taste. This has been especially important to my role at Panera as we’ve changed certain ingredients and updated recipes in our 100% clean commitment journey.

Fourth, registered dietitian nutritionists can play a key role in allergen reporting to our guests and also allergen management in the restaurants.

What is your own personal health and wellness philosophy?

Everything in moderation, no deprivation. I love food – all kinds of food. Today I eat a really healthy, well-balanced diet most of the time, which includes whole grains, lean protein, fruits, veggies and dairy. I have been on the other end of the spectrum eating an unbalanced diet and yo-yo dieting, which is no way to live. But just ask my friends and co-workers, I probably have the biggest sweet tooth around, but I always balance out an indulgence with the rest of my diet.

Physical activity was a bigger part of my life before children, but now they keep me active in a different way. I squeeze in short, high-intensity workouts when I can. Exercising helps me feel better overall and keeps me focused on staying healthy.

Any proud achievements in your work at Panera?

I have been extremely proud of the food policy work we have done during my time at Panera. We have removed artificial colors, sweeteners, flavors and preservatives from our food menu, unveiled the No No List of ingredients that we will not have in our food, and continued to lead the way in menu transparency. We have worked hard on getting our menus in compliance with the federal menu labeling law. We have had nutrition information on our digital platforms for over 7 years and continue to make it easier for guests to find the information they are looking for. I am particularly proud of the curated menus we recently made more accessible. While we have had menus for specific diets posted online, now we have the menus at the point of order for our guests that are looking to eat a specific way, which are available through online ordering, the app and in-store kiosks.

 What are some of the health initiatives going on at Panera?

• Providing curated menus – plant based, nutrient-packed, protein rich, gluten conscious, sodium conscious, sugar conscious, dairy conscious
• Providing added sugar information on select beverages right at the beverage station
• Increasing better-for-you options on our kids menu (switch to whole grain bread as the default on sandwiches, making it more obvious that the regular menu half portion options are available for kids)
• Now that we have a pantry full of clean ingredients we believe we can start looking specifically at nutrition and making improvements in that arena from sodium reduction to portion size evaluation.
• Adding more whole grain options – whole grain sprouted grain flatbread, whole grain sprouted grain roll, whole grain sprouted grain bagel flat, whole grain cranberry walnut bread, added quinoa, brown rice, etc. to our menu.
• Adding more plant-based proteins to our menu

Do you have a favorite plant-based recipe you want to share with us?

The Seasonal Greens Salad is a favorite on our menu.

Note: This post is not sponsored; in no way am I benefiting from including it on my blog.