How to Save 6% (or More!) at Panera

I recently wrote about how much my wife and I like Panera Bread. Not only do we get great food and service there (and even a free cookie recently!), but we also save a decent amount on each trip. PLUS we recently saved even more money thanks to a recent grocery store promotion.

Here are the details:

• We buy Panera gift cards at our local grocery store using our Amex Blue Cash Preferred card. Then we use the cards to pay at Panera, saving us 6% off each and every purchase. (FYI, we use gift cards this way to save on a whole host of services, restaurant trips, shopping purchases, and the like.)


• Recently Meijer (the grocery store where we get our gift cards) offered us a $5 grocery certificate if we bought $100 in gift cards from them. So we purchased $100 in Panera gift cards (we gave one away as a birthday present and kept the rest for us), saving 6% off the purchase of them (so we got them for $94). Then we got a $5 coupon on groceries which we used (FYI, we also got 6% off the groceries we purchased). It was a win-win all the way around.

FYI, we don't get coupons like that often, but they happen more than you might expect. They come from the Catalina systems that print out coupons after you make grocery purchases. So they have figured out that we are gift card buyers and that we respond to general savings offers. Good! I hope we get many more offers like this!

Comments

[Lance@MoneyLife&More]

I am considering that card one day but the annual fee makes me think twice. I would have to do an analysis to make sure it would be worth it for me.

[Stan SSO]

Lance@MoneyLife&More --

Here's how you figure it out.

Versus a 1% card:
0.06X - 0.01X = $75 (the annual fee)
0.05X = $75
X = $1,500 Annual grocery spend

Versus a 3% card (such as Blue Cash Everyday):
0.06X - 0.03X = $75 (the annual fee)
0.03X = $75
X = $2,500 Annual grocery spend

[Stan SSO]

I've been able to stack multiple discounts with a very large retailer to get 14.5% off my gift cards purchased through them.

[K D]

Sometimes Safeway or Giant give a $10 Catalina good on next purchase when purchasing $50 worth of certain gift cards. I have purchased Lowe's gift cards during these promotions. If I'm lucky Safeway will also be offering 4X gas rewards on gift cards at the same time (so a $50 gift card purchase will save me $.20/gallon). I currently earn 2% on grocery store purchases, I really need to think about the Blue Cash every day card, but we have so many cards from chasing other promotions I have hesitated.

[ParatrooperJJ]

Cardpool had Panera at a 7% discount.

[Kelly@FinancialBailoutNews]

Wow, what a great idea. Just shows how far a little effort and thought can go in saving you money. I know plenty of people who would love to get a Panera gift card as a present, and even if I bought one for myself for awards elsewhere, I would use it up in a matter of weeks.