--- title: Here's the Surprising Restaurant Where People Rack Up Big Tabs description: A study found that business travelers spend nearly $40 per meal at Panera Bread, more than Chipotle, Chili's or Applebee's. authors: - name: Martha C. White role: Writer url: https://money.com/author/martha-c-white/ education: BA, English, Princeton University at_money_since: 2015 articles: 350 covers: - Personal Finance - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Federal Reserve Rate Cuts - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology published: '2016-07-22T16:06:29.000Z' modified: '2016-07-22T16:06:29.000Z' section: Personal Finance tags: - Dining Out - fast casual - Food & Drink - Food Facts - Panera Bread - pubdesk word_count: 209 canonical: https://money.com/expense-report-meals-panera/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![panera](https://img.money.com/2016/07/gettyimages-185490511.jpg?crop=0px%2C129px%2C4000px%2C2250px&quality=85) If you're eating at a sit-down restaurant chain like Chili's or Applebee's, you might expect to pay more than if you ate at, say, McDonald's or Subway. But you might not expect to pay nearly $40 to eat at Panera Bread. A new [study by Certify](http://www.certify.com/CertifySpendSmartReport.aspx), a company that processes corporate expense reimbursements, took a look at the most-frequently expensed restaurants and how much business travelers spend there. Panera was the third-most popular chain, behind Starbucks (which is far and away the top breakfast spot) and McDonald's, respectively. But unlike the average $11.55 tab at Starbucks and $8.75 at McDonald's — which was the cheapest average bill in the study — Panera tips the scales with an average ticket of $39.52. At Chipotle, a top Panera rival in the upscale fast-food category the industry has dubbed "fast casual," the average check was just over half the amount people spend at Panera: $21.45. Even people eating at sit-down places like Chili's and Applebee's spent less than Panera customers in the study: Their averages were $34.66 and $35.46, respectively. And if you're looking for a true bargain meal, Certify found that McD's was the lowest, followed by Burger King and then Taco Bell, all of which had average checks of less than $10. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/expense-report-meals-panera/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Personal Finance", "item": "https://money.com/personal-finance/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Expenses", "item": "https://money.com/expenses/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Here's the Surprising Restaurant Where People Rack Up Big Tabs" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/expense-report-meals-panera/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/expense-report-meals-panera/", "name": "Here's the Surprising Restaurant Where People Rack Up Big Tabs", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2016-07-22T16:06:29.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/expense-report-meals-panera/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/expense-report-meals-panera/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2016-07-22T16:06:29.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Here's the Surprising Restaurant Where People Rack Up Big Tabs", "articleSection": "Personal Finance", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2016/07/gettyimages-185490511.jpg?crop=0px%2C129px%2C4000px%2C2250px&quality=85", "width": 1012, "height": 569, "caption": "panera" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Martha C. 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