Panera Cares Cafe in Dearborn aims to help everyone afford a meal or a treat

It's part of an innovative switch from the for-profit Panera Bread operation to a nonprofit Panera Cares. All profits are being donated to local charities, and down-on-their-luck people can eat for little or no cost.

Ron Shaich, Panera Bread's co-founder and executive chairman and president of the Panera Bread Foundation, called the concept "a new kind of café." People are encouraged to take what they need and donate their fair share. There are no prices or cash registers, only suggested donation levels and donation bins.

"The vision for the Panera Cares Cafe was to use Panera's unique restaurant skills to address real societal needs and make a direct impact in communities," Shaich said Monday. "At the end of the day, this community café isn't about offering a handout. It's about offering a hand up to those who need it."

This is the second Panera Cares site in the country; the first is near St. Louis, where Panera is headquartered. The company said in a statement that Dearborn was selected for a Panera Cares Cafe based on "a diverse population of individuals who can sustain the café as well as individuals who may need a hand up."

"Given the economic challenges in the greater Detroit area, opening a Panera Cares Cafe in this area was a natural choice," Shaich said Monday. "These cafes exist to make a difference by offering the Panera experience with dignity to all -- those who can afford it, those who need a hand up and everyone in between."

A third Panera Cares Cafe is expected to open near Portland, Ore., in January.

Lianne Mifsud, a shift manager at the Dearborn Panera site, said about 95% of customers liked the idea of the Panera Cares Cafe, while a few who didn't understand it yet expressed doubts. "We did get a gentleman who had a bad reaction to it," she said. "He thought the community would take advantage of it." But the vast majority "embraced it," she said.

"Everything's been really great," she added. "We got a great reaction from the community."

At the first Panera Cares Café near St. Louis, Shaich said, about 20% of customers leave more than the suggested donation, about 60% leave what's suggested and about 20% leave less.

"This is a little crazy for people to be told, 'Listen, you can do whatever you want, but do the right thing,' " Shaich said. "It's a café of shared responsibility. Ultimately, the community has to support it."

Operations such as Panera Cares are known as "social enterprise," and they are part of a growing trend. The Ben & Jerry's ice cream shop in the Compuware building downtown is another example, run by the local Goodwill Industries on a nonprofit basis as a way to train disadvantaged youths.