Panera Bread is a restaurant chain with over 1,500 bakery-cafés in the United States and Canada. The company was founded in 1983 by Ron Shaich and is based in St. Louis, Missouri, location number 1. Panera Bread regularly provides quality food at a reasonable price to its customers.
Ronald Shaich founded the company on November 16, 1983, when he purchased the St. Louis Bread Company, founded in 1931. With his start-up loan of $5,000 obtained from the St. Louis Jewish Community Center, Shaich converted the bakery into a café. The new restaurant offered baked fresh daily goods such as chicken divan and French dip sandwiches.
In 1993, Shaich purchased Au Bon Pain which had been on the verge of bankruptcy and merged it with St. Louis Bread Company to create one large cafe chain serving baked goods and full meals. The new company was named Panera Bread in honor of Panera's patron saint, Saint Honoré (Honoratus).
Along with the new business came Shaich's direction to provide higher quality baked goods such as bagels and croissants.
In 2006, Au Bon Pain was sold to the Jamba Juice Company for $215 million, with Panera Bread receiving a 7.5% share of the new company. In 2012, The St. Louis Bread Company and the St. Louis Bread Company Cafe announced that they were parting ways after decades of partnership and were planning a sale of their companies to a third party at an undisclosed price.
Today, Panera Bread has over 1,500 locations in 46 states. In 2009, Panera Bread acquired a minority stake in Paradise Bakery & Café and opened its first out-of-state restaurant at the South Coast Collection in Costa Mesa, California.
In 2013, the company announced it would begin phasing out trans fats from its products by 2016; the transition was completed on schedule. In 2014, it announced that it would cut sodium by 10 percent 2017. In 2016, the company announced it would also eliminate artificial colors from its food by 2017. It also announced plans to serve organic food at all locations, beginning in 2017.
Panera Bread gives back to charity through its Panera Cares programs, including soup kitchens and food banks.
Panera Bread
Cafe
179 Deming Street, Unit E Manchester, Connecticut 06042Frustrating to have spent $12 on a Caesar Salad, which was half-filled & barely had any chicken. My sandwiches are made differently each time; never any consistency. Emp ... more
Panera Bread
Cafe
200 Doug Baker Blvd, Suite 100 Birmingham, Alabama 35242Broccoli cheese soup bowl is my favorite.
Panera Bread
Cafe
609 3rd St Davis, California 95616The music sucks and way too loud, I want to enjoy my morning coffee in a relaxed atmosphere, not a nightclub. Please turn the music down
Panera Bread
Cafe
7780 North Blackstone Avenue Fresno, California 93720Ordered online, pick up quick ! Everyone says hello,friendly & approachable
Panera Bread
Cafe
2320 Black Rock Turnpike Fairfield, Connecticut 06825Good pizza and sandwiches.
Panera Bread
Cafe
43458 10th Street, #101 Lancaster, California 93534Wasnt disappointed
Panera Bread
Cafe
19662 Nordhoff Street Northridge, California 91324I got a toasted steak and white cheddar sandwich and a cup of broccoli cheddar soup. The sandwich consisted of bread mostly, barely any steak, almost no cheese or onions ... more
Panera Bread
Cafe
901 Howe Ave Sacramento, California 95825Well I'm not big fan of bread bowls orglutenoues yeast packed sandwiches. I do love their brocolanc cheese soup bowl and a chocolate drizzled croissant. Excellent mango t ... more
Panera Bread
Cafe, Bakery, Breakfast Restaurant
154 W Wilson St Batavia, Illinois 60510Great place to get coffee and lunch. But also a good amount of seating overall. Well priced too. Food was awesome Services was great. Affordable place.
Panera Bread
Cafe
6865 Camino Arroyo Gilroy, California 95020My sandwich was slapped together with no great effort.. Still tasted good.. but a little disappointed in quality..
Panera Bread
Cafe, Bakery, Breakfast Restaurant
616 E Green St Champaign, IL 61820Panera Bread
Cafe
3050 Hotel Dr Turlock, California 95380The best Panera !
Panera Bread - Closed
Cafe
2480 State Road 434 West Altamonte Springs, Florida 32714WAY TOO EXPENSIVE for salad with a little dressing! Panera your overrated
Panera Bread
Cafe
16624 Ventura Blvd, Unit C Encino, California 91436The food is really good. I'm obsessed with their pizza like their pizza's better than anything. It tastes very authentic and like my mom makes ithe reason why I'm giving ... more
Panera Bread - Closed
Cafe
1853 North 2nd St Highland Park, Illinois 60035very tasty
Panera Bread
Cafe
25523 Marguerite Parkway, Suite A2 Mission Viejo, California 92692These people towed cars on EASTER Sunday during mass. dont support them
Panera Bread
Cafe
2009 Apalachee Parkway Tallahassee, Florida 32301Panera Bread
Cafe
1035 El Monte Avenue Mountain View, California 94041Great.
Panera Bread
Cafe
13740 Beach Blvd, Suite 401 Jacksonville, Florida 32224Got some new sandwiches dessert r good fair prices like going here
Panera Bread
Cafe
5720 Cottle Road, 408-360-7976 San Jose, California 95123FOOD: Shorting meals! Be sure you double check your Togo orders before leaving! On multiple occasions our orders were short. Containers of Mac~ n~cheese, soups, or salad. ... more
Panera Bread
Cafe
8179 Highway 72 W Madison, Alabama 35758I hate to write this, but I just have to. You claimed larger portions on your new menu. Its been a tad more but not enough to make a difference. And today you shorted me ... more
Panera Bread
Cafe
3013 W Florida Ave Hemet, California 92545Delicious soups !!!!
Panera Bread
Cafe
7361 Lemont Road Downers Grove, Illinois 60516Come here before work and for the most part it is fine. However the hours are not accurate as I was here at 7:40 when the hour say they open at seven which is incorrect. ... more
Panera Bread
Cafe
4103 S Mooney Blvd Visalia, California 93277Serving portions are very poor
Panera Bread - Closed
Cafe, Bakery, Breakfast Restaurant
235 East 17th Street Costa Mesa, California 92627Muy hamables .
Panera Bread
Cafe
150 N 12th Avenue, Suite 101 Hanford, California 93230I love the variety of clean foods, Panera offers. However, I may order one of two if not both items at any Panera location. I was somewhat disappointed with my usual at ... more
Panera Bread
Cafe
10540 Forest Hill Boulevard Wellington, Florida 33414Good food, fast and nice team!
Panera Bread
Cafe
11300 South Street Cerritos, California 90703Food was great as always. The person who took my order didn't tell me I had a birthday reward usually they tell you. Missed my bday reward
Panera Bread
Cafe
1440 Hendricks Ave Jacksonville, Florida 32207Welcoming and friendly Comfortable and I do so very well appreciate the positive vibe. Great for families
Panera Bread
Cafe
23388 State Road 54, Suite 107 Lutz, Florida 33549AC was on very high. At to go outside to get warm. Ok, new crew, lower chill factor! Great staff, too. It's been a long time since I stopped, but things are great. AC was ... more
Panera Bread
Cafe
10061 W Flagler Street Miami, Florida 33174very good soups, I recommend especially broccoli soup and tikka masala. I didn't like the onion soup - very salty and when it comes to ingredients, it's just onion, but ... more
Panera Bread
Cafe
2415 Tarpon Bay Blvd, Unit 5 Naples, Florida 34119The pizza sandwich was kinda dry. Customer service was good from cashier. But for whatever reason they never called our order. The bathroom here looks and smells worst th ... more
Panera Bread
Cafe
9717 NW 41st Street Doral, Florida 33178Amazing service!!
Panera Bread
Cafe
908 E 23rd St Panama City, Florida 32405I had a small complaint about one of the products and I wanted to notify the Manager and I want to let the company know that the Supervisor Jacob was very professional an ... more
Panera Bread
Cafe
2909 James L Redman Parkway, Ste 113 Plant City, Florida 33566Panera Bread
Cafe, Bakery, Breakfast Restaurant
1117 Florida Mall Ave Orlando, Florida 32809Update! its Closed!
Panera Bread
Cafe, Soup Restaurant, Sandwich Shop
5050 Town Center Cir Suite 201 Boca Raton, Florida 33486Great fast casual chain for tasty, fresh food made with fresh ingredients, but this location, especially the tabletops, are consistently DIRTY. Needs more staff and mindf ... more
Panera Bread
Cafe
847 Boll Weevil Circle, Suite 100 Enterprise, Alabama 36330I had never been to a Panera and I've totally been missing out. It was so delicious. The store was super clean and the staff was friendly.
Panera Bread
Cafe
6683 Edwardsville Crossing Edwardsville, Illinois 62025Order a steak, egg and cheese breakfast sandwich on 5/13.. Your location served me a sandwich with an egg half raw, the cheese missing, and steak on a tiny portion of the ... more
Panera Bread
Cafe
220 Route 12 Groton, Connecticut 06340We did a fundraiser with this Panera Bread and we under estimated the number of people we were going to have show up. We had more than double the participants in our fund ... more
Panera Bread
Cafe
160 River Road, Unit 102 Lisbon, Connecticut 06351Called asked if they had soup said 1030 drive all the way there 30 min just for them to say there no soup waste of my time and gas money highly dont recommend waste of ti ... more
Panera Bread
Cafe
903 Hartford Turnpike Waterford, Connecticut 06385I am not a frequent visitor to Panera, so I stood around for a minute trying to figure out how to order. Lol. Once we ordered, we only waited 7 to 10 minutes for our food ... more
Panera Bread
Cafe
1129 Silas Deane Highway Wethersfield, Connecticut 06109This location is close to my job so I purchased the sip club subscription a few months ago but have since cancelled because coming here is anything but convenient. The cu ... more
Panera Bread
Cafe
650 Main Avenue, (Route 7) Norwalk, Connecticut 06851I ordered the chicken chipotle sandwich and am highly disappointed! I advise everyone that goes here, Norwalk CT location, to double check their order. This is the 2nd ti ... more
Panera Bread
Cafe
12293 East Iliff Avenue Aurora, Colorado 80014Just had an Interesting breakfast item: Hot Ham, egg and cheese on a cinnamon bagel. Tasty treat.
Panera Bread
Cafe
13865 City Center Drive, Suite 3097 Chino Hills, California 91709Love the endless sip club!
Panera Bread
Cafe
2214 North Tustin Street Orange, California 92865Great food and service.
Panera Bread
Cafe
1825 Sugar Exchange Prattville, Alabama 36066Order 2 bagel and 2 drinks. Took a seat and waited about 15 minutes. Saw people who came in after us get their orders. Went to counter to ask and they apparently just igo ... more
Panera Bread
Cafe
3941 S Bristol Street Santa Ana, California 92704Convenient location across from SCP. Comfortable atmosphere. Parking can be a challenge sometimes.
Panera Bread
Cafe
8055 Haven Avenue Rancho Cucamonga, California 91730The food is consistent and tasty. Portions can be a bit small but filling
