INDIANAPOLIS — One Indianapolis teacher got an extra surprise in her coffee Monday morning. Ants.
Angela Covell-Tipton went to the Panera Bread on N. Keystone Avenue in the Glendale Shopping area. She said that first the Panera employee handed her a black coffee, which was the wrong order. She told the employee she ordered cream and sugar and that the employee could just hand her the cream and sugar. The employee allegedly said no to her and that they’d fix it.
She was then given a new coffee cup with cream and sugar. Covell-Tipton suspects the ants may have been in the creamer container.
Unfortunately, she didn’t notice the ants until she was at work.
“It appeared that one of the ants was alive because he swam to the top of the cup,” said Covell-Tipton. She said the regional manager contacted her and went to the store to check the machines. He said they were “thoroughly cleaned.”
Covell-Tipton also went back to the store because one of her former students works there. “She’s been there for years I thought I would talk to her, which I did, and she got the manager who refunded my money, but the floor was filthy it was disgusting.”
After posting the situation on her Facebook page, Panera Bread’s account left a comment that said, “This is a concern we take seriously and we’d like to make sure this is addressed immediately. Would you mind sharing your order details in a PM so we can help?”
We reached out to the Marion County Health Department for a response. Their food safety team sent an inspector out the same day. They said, “Ants were not observed at the time of inspection but were noted on previous pest control records.”
Here is the full food inspection report FOX59 obtained detailing the condition of the violations:
The Area Manager did reach out to Covell-Tipton saying the following:
“I have heard about your experience and wanted to connect and apologize personally. I’m arriving at the café now and have taken immediate action.”
After seeing his contact to Covell-Tipton, we reached out to him and he directed us to contact corporate.
Panera Bread corporate sent us back the following message:
“Food safety and cleanliness is always a top priority at Panera. This isolated incident was immediately addressed and we’ve received full clearance from our local health department.”
