Essay on Organization and Management of Panera Bread

Panera Bread is a symbol of warmth and welcome and they believe that food should be so good that you should feel good about eating it. Thirty years ago Louis Kane and Ron Shaich began a simple commitment: to bake fresh bread from fresh dough in their bakery-cafes, taking no short cuts, just bakers with simple ingredients and hot ovens (Panera Bread, Media, n.d.).

Panera Bread Bakery and Café boast of its quality of food and market it as freshly baked breads prepared everyday. But with this kind of strategy involves a lot of spoilage, contributing to the high cost that the company is incurring. In the statement provided in the case, despite the increasing operating profit since 2001, the profit margin remains to be low.

Panera Bread started in 1981 as Au Bon Pain Co., Inc. Founded by Louis Kane and Ron Shaich; the company prospered along the east coast of the United States and internationally throughout the 1980s and 1990s and became the dominant operator within the bakery-cafe category. In 1993, Au Bon Pain Co., Inc. purchased Saint Louis Bread Company, a chain of 20 bakery-cafes located in the St. Louis area.

Panera Bread began in 1981 as Au Bon Pain Co., a fast-casual bakery and café chain, founded by Louis Kane and Ron Shaich. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the chain grew along the east cost of the United States and internationally. It dominated in the bakery-café category. In 1993, Au Bon Pain Co. purchased Saint Louis Bread Company, which was founded by Kenneth Rosenthal. At this time, the Saint Louis Bread Company was in the midst of renovating its 20 bakery-cafes in the Saint Louis area. The concept’s name was ultimately changed to Panera Bread.

The focal point of this is essay is none other than Panera Bread. Louis Kane and Ron Shaich established a bread kitchen bistro called Au Bon Pain Company Inc. in 1981. The organization developed and succeeded through the 1980's and 90's. Saint Louis Bread Company was purchased in 1993 by the association the company already had 20 different locations that covered vast areas of Saint Louis in the first place. Saint Louis Bread Company was at first established by Ken Rosenthal. In May 1999 Panera Bread ventured into a national eatery, Au Bon Pain Co. sold their different chains including Au Bon Pain, which is currently claimed by Compass Group North America. Panera moved its central command to another area in Richmond, Heights Missouri in 2000.

It is this mix of key factors that has empowered Boston Pizza to serve a bigger number of clients in a greater number of areas than many other full-service restaurants in Canada (BP International Inc., 2014).

Panera Bread has established itself as one of the most popular, fast growing “bakery-café” restaurants in the United States as well as in Canada. With 1,800 locations in 45 states, the franchise appears to be unstoppable. This in part is due to the superior customer service experience that keeps customers coming back time and time again. Just to give you an example, in 2012; the most recent year that data is available, Panera Bread brought in an astounding $2.13 billion in revenue, about $1 billion more than its revenue in 2008.

The sale of Au Bon Pain lead to their corporate name change to Panera Bread Company. In the early 2000’s the company grew through franchise agreements, acquisitions and expansion. In 2010 Shaich stepped down from his roll of CEO to the company’s executive chairman to focus on concept and strategy. Shaich had what he referred to as concept essence the blueprint of what he wanted to achieve. “Concept essence included a focus on artisan bread, quality products and a warm, and friendly, and comfortable environment” (Vincelette & Fogarty, 2010, p4.).

The Panera Bread Company is starting 2007 with unfinished goals and missed targets previously set and a review of their strategy is in order to continue their ongoing success. The company has grown substantially since its inception in the competitive restaurant industry; however, an aggressive target of 2,000 Panera Bread bakery-cafes will require a focused strategic plan. The company has a strong base with loyal customers who appreciate Panera’s unique dining atmosphere with a focus on quality products at a reasonable price. Panera will need to continue its market research and focus on environmental issues, which are an important core value. The opportunity for

The generic competitive strategy that Panera best fits is broad differentiation. This is primarily because Panera sought to be the first choice for patrons looking for fresh-baked goods, a sandwich, soup, a salad or a beverage in a pleasing environment. In this platform Panera has set their eyes on people who may not necessarily be looking for an expensive meal, but might also not want cheap, fast food but instead are looking for a fresh meal that can be enjoyed in a relaxing environment. In this Panera is looking for a

Being a nationally recognized brand and a dominant in restaurant operations in the specialty bakery café segment and to expand broadly in the regional market is Panera’s strategy. And by giving high quality product Panera is following their strategy.

Among the crowded field of casual, quick-service restaurants in America, the distinctive blend of genuine artisan bread and a warm, comfortable atmosphere has given Panera Bread Company a golden opportunity to capture market share and reward shareholders through well-planned growth. With the objective of opening approximately 1,000 more bakery-cafes in the next three years, Panera Bread Company must make prudent strategy decisions about new store locations, supply-chain management and expanded offerings, all the while continuing its above-average earnings per share growth of at least 25 percent per year.

This approach has been one of the main competitive advantages of the company that maintained its stores and cafes in a friendly and ambient atmosphere in various locations. The company did not start as a traditional fast food restaurant, but rather as a network of places where people could fulfill their natural instincts with healthy and freshly cooked food with a little higher than average price range. Panera Bread was one of the trend makers of casual-food restaurants, whose vision was entirely different from the typical model of public facilities. All of the locations shared a common design and menu that created a unique environment of the franchise. Moreover, in order to enable high-quality service, the executive team of the company decided to equip all of the bakery’s completely to be capable of making their own products directly to the spots. This fact allowed to reach a certain level of autonomy and reliability of the brand that always managed to deliver and provide the freshest and natural

Ronald M. Shaich is the only internal member and he created the company’s “starter.” He was the master baker who combined the ingredients and cultivated the leavening agent that catalyzed the company’s phenomenal growth. Mr. Shaich has been the vision and driving force behind Panera’s success from the company’s beginnings until his resignation as CEO and Chairman effective May 13, 2010.

In 1993, AU Bon Pain Company purchased the Saint Louis Bread Company. In 1995, top management at Au Bon Pain instituted a comprehensive overhaul of the newly-acquired Saint Louis Bread locations. The overhaul included altering the menu and the dining atmosphere. The vision was to create a specialty cafe anchored by an authentic, fresh-dough artisan bakery and upscale quick-service menu selections. This acquisition proved successful for Au Bon Pain. Between 1993 and 1997, average unit volumes at the revamped locations increased by 75% and over 100 additional locations were opened. In 1997, the bakery-cafes were renamed Panera bread in markets outside of St Louis. The Panera business plan had worked well and management concluded it had broad