Cooked?
Panera Bread
- resultPass w/ Conditions
- critical violations1
- last inspectedJuly 7, 2025
- address600 W Van Buren St, Chicago 60607
- cuisineCatering
Is Panera Bread clean?
Panera Bread is currently Pass w/ Conditions from Chicago Department of Public Health, from an inspection on July 7, 2025. Inspectors wrote up 1 critical violation — the kind most directly linked to foodborne illness. On Cooked's ladder that reads mid 😬.
What did inspectors find at Panera Bread?
These are the violations recorded at the most recent inspection on July 7, 2025, in plain English, with the city's own wording underneath.
- 📋certified manager paperwork missingcriticalCity Of Chicago Food Service Sanitation Certificate • OBSERVED NO VALID CITY OF CHICAGO FOOD SANITATION CERTIFICATE POSTED ON THE PREMISES. MANAGEMENT INSTRUCTED THAT A CERTIFIED FOOD MANAGER MUST BE PRESENT AT ALL TIMES WHILE TCS FOODS ARE BEING PREPARED OR SERVED. PRIORITY FOUNDATION VIOLATION 7-38-012. CITATION ISSUED.
- 🥜allergen training missingAllergen Training As Required • OBSERVED NO VALID ALLERGEN TRAINING CERTIFICATE ON THE PREMISES. MANAGEMENT INSTRUCTED THAT ALL CERTIFIED FOOD MANAGERS MUST SHOW PROOF OF ALLERGEN TRAINING.
When was Panera Bread last inspected?
Panera Bread has 17 inspections on record going back to December 12, 2011. The 12 most recent are shown below.
| date | result | score |
|---|---|---|
| July 7, 2025 | Pass w/ Conditions | |
| May 22, 2024 | Pass | |
| June 16, 2023 | Pass | |
| June 9, 2023 | Fail | |
| July 20, 2022 | Pass | |
| January 6, 2021 | Pass | |
| July 26, 2019 | Pass | |
| May 30, 2018 | Pass | |
| August 21, 2017 | Pass | |
| June 27, 2016 | Pass w/ Conditions | |
| May 1, 2015 | Pass | |
| December 15, 2014 | Pass |
Panera Bread vs Near West Side
Near West Side runs 72% clean across 2,033 tracked restaurants — 1,463 clean, 406 mid, 151 cooked.
Against the 2,033 spots Cooked tracks in Near West Side, this one comes out cleaner than 12% of them.
Other spots in Near West Side
How Chicago grades restaurants
Chicago does not use letter grades. Every inspection ends in one of three official results: Pass, Pass with Conditions, or Fail. Pass with Conditions means violations were found but corrected on the spot or under a deadline — the restaurant is open, with homework. A Fail means serious violations went uncorrected, and it usually brings a re-inspection within days. Chicago also flags “priority” violations, the ones most likely to actually make someone sick. Cooked reads Pass as clean, Pass with Conditions as mid, and Fail as cooked, and shows the itemized violations behind each result.
Source: Chicago Department of Public Health via Chicago Data Portal. Cooked refreshes this data daily — this listing's most recent inspection is dated July 7, 2025. Inspection results describe one moment in a kitchen's life, not a permanent verdict.