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.
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181 Tom Hill Sr Blvd, Suite C Macon, Georgia 31210Had a quick lunch with my wife.We had the delicious broccoli, cheese soup.The bread dipped in the soup was delicious also.
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3738 Broadway St Quincy, Illinois 62305Panera Bread
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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
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1101 W Bird Boulevard Peoria, Illinois 61615Love the cheesy broccoli soup.
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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
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1830 NE Pine Island Rd Cape Coral, Florida 33909Had breakfast fair, great staff
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9717 NW 41st Street Doral, Florida 33178Amazing service!!
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6951 Westbranch Hwy Lewisburg, Pennsylvania 17837Best breakfast sandwiches we've had in a while
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481 East Loop 281 Longview, Texas 75605My coffee of choice. Better than the rest and i absolutely love the staff!!
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1412 Greenbrier Parkway, Suite 125A Chesapeake, Virginia 23320They don't toast their bagels long enough
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200 Doug Baker Blvd, Suite 100 Birmingham, Alabama 35242Broccoli cheese soup bowl is my favorite.
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6658 Airport Highway Holland, Ohio 43528Saran the drive through is the truth !!! On gang nem
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1156 Military Cutoff Rd Wilmington, North Carolina 28405Your front end register girl tonight needs to pay attention or keep sweeping. Ordered pick 2 green goddess sandwich, balsamic greens with grains ,I got 2 salads . Who ord ... more
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730 E Campbell Rd, Suite 300 Richardson, Texas 75080They either don't have mediterranean sandwich or dont have the correct bread. I used to love their mediterranean sandwich and the bread was the best part. but for some re ... more
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2104 South 3rd Street Jacksonville Beach, Florida 32250Starting 04/04/2024 they have introduced a new budget friendly menu. Green goddess caprese melt & other last seasons sandwiches are now available in half size. Mac and ch ... more
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1927 Telegraph Rd Monroe, Michigan 48162The best Panera ever!
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500 Winchester Ave Ashland, Kentucky 41101Absolute best experience in my life! Went to a Panera in a different location and had a bad experience so the manager from the ashland location took care of my meal and m ... more
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810 Grand Central Ave Vienna, West Virginia 26105Great food, great atmosphere.
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5600 A Urbana Pike Frederick, Maryland 21702Love to enjoy Panera here. Often this location is a little dirty, but today was cleaner and there was more staff working. The staff was nice and food was good as always. ... more
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5218 Monticello Avenue Williamsburg, Virginia 23188Amazingly quick, generally friendly and usually quite clean
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460 Elden Street Herndon, Virginia 20170This particular location has poor customer service. Ive come to this specific location for more than a decade. One of the managers is consistently rude and unprofessional ... more
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4800 Whitesburg Dr S, Ste F Huntsville, Alabama 35802The vibe here is absolutely amazing. Manager and staff are friendly and provide excellent customer service. People like it and make it there go to for not only food but s ... more
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1740 South Robert Street, Suite 102 West St Paul, Minnesota 55118Update: since leaving this review the manager at the time contacted me and seems to have taken it seriously and fixed the issue. Ive had all of my orders since be correct ... more
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609 South Perryville Road Rockford, Illinois 61108Fast real food service
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2009 Apalachee Parkway Tallahassee, Florida 32301Panera Bread
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13201 Atlantic Blvd Jacksonville, Florida 32225Great food, kitchen sink cookie is to die for
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2917 South 74th Street Fort Smith, Arkansas 72903Today was my first time eating here and I definitely wasn't disappointed. I had always heard it was expensive but compared to the 18 dollar omelette at IHOP this place wa ... more
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8055 Haven Avenue Rancho Cucamonga, California 91730The food is consistent and tasty. Portions can be a bit small but filling
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10701 Kanis Road Little Rock, Arkansas 72211Got to the drive thru at 7:30, no one would ever ever come to take my order, websitesaysitclosesat9 pm. I drove up to the window and no one would come to the window. Thi ... more
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3590 West Shaw Avenue Fresno, California 93711Had the chicken and wild rice and half a turkey sandwich food was all fresh and delicious
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1348 Bison Avenue Newport Beach, California 92660Absolutely impressed with this location. Our service was amazing. Friendly, fast, and took great care of us. Food was delicious. Thank you!
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1600 Southeast Rd Farmington, Connecticut 06032The menu has changed and I was unfamiliar with many of the items. All the food was delicious however the system was done therefore I wasn't able to get my points.
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3638 North Front Street Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701The food was OK, not great. The place was dirty and in need of repairs.
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6865 Camino Arroyo Gilroy, California 95020My sandwich was slapped together with no great effort.. Still tasted good.. but a little disappointed in quality..
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4685 1st St Livermore, California 94551Disappointed
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1320 SE Walton Blvd Bentonville, Arkansas 72712I ordered half ceaser salad with chicken and strawberry smoothie and the total was 19.98. There was no receipt in the bag and I'm pretty sure the rude guy taking drive th ... more
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3050 Hotel Dr Turlock, California 95380The best Panera !
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24133 Baywood Lane Santa Clarita, California 91355This place is awful.. it's Sunday 12:45 and there are no breads displayed only half the pastries are available. Never any hot water ready (its winter), the honey is usua ... more
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169 Danbury Road, Bldg J New Milford, Connecticut 06776Purchased Mac and cheese for $12! Never again. Will not be returning. Plus they eliminated the baked chips!
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365 Queen St Southington, Connecticut 06489Quick in and out, picked up me and my wife's food still hot. No complaints. Chili was delicious and not dry like turkey chili can be. Very good.
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21 Commons Way Oxford, Alabama 36203Nice place with fast service. I like the variety of beverage options.
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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
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2570 Tuscany Street, Ste 102 Corona, California 92881I ordered Pick Two. You have a few options to choose from. I selected half a salad and half of a chicken sandwich, and it came with a side, Yay! They'll give you a number ... more
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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
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25523 Marguerite Parkway, Suite A2 Mission Viejo, California 92692These people towed cars on EASTER Sunday during mass. dont support them
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11550 East 4th Street Rancho Cucamonga, California 91730Was quick and very nice people.
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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
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750 Schillinger Road South Mobile, Alabama 36695Every time I turn around they are changing the menu. I can never get what I want from them anymore. The new menu is confusing and nothing sounds appetizing. A simple sand ... more
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1035 El Monte Avenue Mountain View, California 94041Great.
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667 San Rodolfo Drive, Suite 130 Solana Beach, California 92075Service was very bad... Out of the six things I ordered the lady forgot three of them which is extremely bad.
