Panera Employee Fired for Video ‘Exposing’ How Mac & Cheese Is Made

A Panera Bread employee claims she was fired for posting a video online showing how the restaurant’s mac & cheese is prepared.

Video posted to the TikTok app shows Bri, who goes by Brii Ramirezz online, and other employees placing the plastic bag of frozen food in hot water, then slicing it open and pouring the contents into a bowl.

“Apparently, this is how Panera Bread prepares the mac and cheese. (via TikTok),” the video’s caption on UberFacts read:

On Friday afternoon, the former restaurant employee tweeted that she lost her job for posting the footage on the video-sharing app.

“lol i lost my job for this video,” she wrote.

However, not all social media users were shocked by the footage and one said it is the same in every fast-food restaurant.

“I don’t get what she’s exposing?” the person tweeted. “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.”

The original video, which was uploaded with the caption “exposing Panera,” has nearly 10 million views on Twitter.

The restaurant’s website said it believes that “good food, food you can feel good about, can bring out the best in all of us. Food served in a warm, welcoming environment, by people who care. To us, that’s good eating and that’s why we’re here.”

In a statement regarding the incident, a Panera spokesperson noted that the eatery’s food is “made offsite with our proprietary recipe developed by our chefs,” according to Fox News.

“It is shipped frozen to our bakery cafes — this allows us to avoid using preservatives which do not meet our clean standards,” the statement concluded.

On Monday, Bri tweeted that she was not wrongfully terminated by the company and that she was moving on from her mistake.

“There was no wrongful termination. Having such long nails and my phone out is a risk to food safety and health regulations. Everything was completely justified. I made a mistake and i’ve learned from it. I will always love panera and their food,” she wrote.