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Panera Bread Strategy

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Panera Bread Company – History
In 1978, Louis Kane purchased Au Bon Pain, a fast casual restaurant that focused on artisan breads. Kane merged Au Bon Pain with Ronald Shaich’s company The Cookie Jar in 1981. Au Bon Pain, looking to move away from their urban niche market, acquired the St. Louis Bread Company in 1993, a 19 store company with a more suburban marketplace. In 1999, after performing market research and studying their newly acquired bakery-concept, the company decided to sell Au Bon Pain and form a new concept, Panera Bread. (Panera Bread Company Overview, 2013)
Panera Bread Company - Business Description
Panera Bread Company (Panera Bread) is a national bakery-cafe concept involved in providing bakery products through a network of bakery-cafes. It is one of the largest food service companies in the US, serving over seven million customers per week system-wide. Its products are freshly baked goods which include a diverse selection of bagels, breads, muffins, scones, rolls, and sweet goods, made-to-order sandwiches, unique soups and side items, hand-tossed salads, and custom roasted coffees and cafe beverages, including hot or cold espresso, cappuccino drinks and smoothies. The company operates under the trademarked names Panera Bread, Saint Louis Bread Co. and Paradise Bakery & Cafe. Panera Bread operates through three business segments, namely, Company Bakery-Cafe Operations, Franchise Operations, and Fresh Dough and Other Product Operations.
The Company Bakery-Cafe Operations segment operates through 809 company-owned bakery-cafes which are principally located throughout the US and in Ontario, Canada. The company-owned bakery-cafes conduct business under the brands of Panera Bread, Saint Louis Bread Co. or Paradise Bakery & Cafe. These bakery-cafes offers fresh baked goods, made-to-order sandwiches on freshly baked breads, soups, custom

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