Nationwide bakery and cafe chain Panera Bread is set to stop making its own dough and switch to using partially-baked bread made by a third-party supplier.
Newsweek reached out to Panera Bread via email for comment.
Why It Matters
The chain has locations across the United States and Canada, operating under the names Panera Bread or the St. Louis Bread Company. In 2016, the business revealed it was serving more than 9 million customers each week.
Panera Bread was founded in 1987 and still uses the “same sourdough starter” from the early days, the company says on its website, adding that “the craft of baking bread fresh each day remains at the heart of Panera Bread.”
Hundreds of bakers are set to lose their jobs as part of the brand’s new business strategy, which was announced earlier this year but is now being rolled out across the country.
Four sites were permanently closed in June, while some 72 workers have been told they’ll be out of a job in September when Panera’s dough-making site in Brentwood, Missouri, is shuttered, according to USA Today. All sites will be closed within the next two years, with the newspaper reporting that cafes will now simply finish cooking frozen bread that has been partially-baked elsewhere, using dough made to Panera’s recipe.
What To Know
The shake-up at the production end of the business comes amid an attempt by the company to focus on growth over the next few years. The brand was embroiled in a social media storm and calls for a customer boycott earlier this year amid reports it had sought an exemption from paying the minimum wage.
It subsequently emerged that the company planned to cut jobs. A report by Nation’s Restaurant News (NRN) in April revealed that the brand was to close its own dough-making sites and transition toward using external facilities.
The dough will reportedly be made according to the company’s recipes, and bread will then be partially baked before being shipped out to individual cafes. Staff will then finish baking the items in ovens on site.
The bread will be frozen before it is distributed, according to USA Today.
The move will be better for customers because stores won’t run out of items, Panera’s chief corporate affairs officer, Brooke Buchanan, told NRN, adding it will also help with “turning the business around.”
On June 25, Panera hired former Burger King executive Nikka Copeland as senior vice president of the newly created Office of Transformation & Strategy. The company said at the time that Copeland “will manage the strategic execution of Panera’s three-year growth plan, driving business model clarity that will be instrumental as the company transforms for sustained performance and growth.”
Copeland serves under CEO Paul Carbone, who said her “experience in finance, strategy and operations…will prove invaluable as we create the blueprint to scale and grow Panera for the future.”
In a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification notice dated July 10 and filed last month, Panera said the “Fresh Dough Facility located at 2511 S. Hanley Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63144 will cease operations and close on September 12, 2025. All seventy-two (72) employees of the facility will be impacted with the loss of their employment…This closure is expected to be permanent.”
The jobs due to be lost include mixers, packers, drivers, and sanitation staff.
“All affected employees have been notified in writing of the permanent facility closure and of the termination of their employment effective between September 10, 2025 and September 12, 2025,” the company said. “Panera is offering all affected employees a severance package as well as outplacement services.”
What People Are Saying
Panera Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Brooke Buchanan told NRN in April: “Our bread is our superstar and the homage to our brand. We wanted to make sure that the product in store was top quality, using the best ingredients based on our recipes…The hardest thing for our team members is to say, ‘No, we’re out of that product.’ If you walk into a bakery-cafe at 4 p.m. and you want an Asiago bagel, you should be able to have that, and you will through this model.”
What Happens Next
Staff at Panera’s Missouri dough-making site must now find new jobs as the countdown is on until the facility closes for good.
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