Nearly 40% Of People Say This Is The Best Soup At Panera

If you love bread, more bread, and then some more, you just might be the ideal customer for Panera Bread, the carb-lovin' soup, salad, and sandwich chain with more than 2,100 locations across the United States (via Panera Bread). Panera got its start in St. Louis, Missouri in 1987 baking breads with sourdough starter shipped in from San Francisco, and the chain still uses the name St. Louis Bread company at some of its stores, via its official website.

At the time of its founding, a new bread trend was sweeping the Bay Area of California, where sourdough has been king since the mid-1800s Gold Rush, when miners from all over the country flocked to the area to try to make their fortunes — bringing their homemade starters with them (via California.com). By the 1980s, sourdough bread boules were pulling double duty all across town with the rise of the trend of serving clam chowder inside a bread bowl (via Foodicles).

One of Panera's classic menu items are its bread bowls, a variation on the Bay Area custom that features the chain's hearty soups served inside a sourdough loaf. Of course, those soups are also available in a cup or bowl, and we here at Tasting Table were curious which type of Panera soup is most popular among our readers. We asked 515 U.S. survey respondents that very question, and one soup featuring a hit of rich dairy was the clear winner.