Panera Bread Company Background
The Panera Bread Company began in 1981 as Au Bon Pain Co., Inc. Founded by Ron Shaich and Louis Kane, the company thrived along the east coast of the United States and internationally throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s and became the dominant operator within the bakery-café category. In the early 1990’s, Saint Louis Bread company, a chain of 20 bakery-cafes were acquired by the Au Bon Pain Co. Following this purchase, the company redesigned the newly acquired company and increased unit volumes by 75%. This new concept was named Panera Bread. Top management chose to sell their previous bakery-café known as Au Bon Pain Co. due to the financial and managerial needs of Panera. In order for Panera to become the success top management visualized all resources needed to become available for Panera. Panera Bread is now the most successful bakery-café in the category in which there are currently 1,777 bakery-cafes in 45 states and in Ontario Canada (Panera Bread).
Panera Bread Company Strategy
The vision of Panera was to make Panera Bread a nationally recognized brand name as well as becoming the dominant restaurant operator in upscale, quick-service dining. The top management believed for their vision to become a reality they must depend on being better than the guys across the street. In addition Panera wanted to offer a unique dining experience at Panera so attractive that customers are passing by other fast casual restaurants to dine at their nearest Panera Bread Company. Management further implemented this strategy by following a blueprint for attracting and retaining customers. This blueprint called, Concept Essence underpinned Panera’s strategy and embraced several themes that, taken togethe...
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...xaminations to determine the cause of decline in sales or customer growth will provide the company with information in continuing the success of the company.
Works Cited
MORNINGSTAR. 2014. http://financials.morningstar.com/ratios/r.html?t=PNRA. 18 April 2014.
Panera Bread. 2014. https://www.panerabread.com/en-us/company/about-panera/our-history.html. 16 April 2014.
"Panera lowers forcast on disappointing sales." 22 October 2013. BusinessWeek.com. http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2013-10-22/panera-lowers-forecast-on-disappointing-sales. 23 April 2014.
Thompson, Arthur A. "Panera Bread Company in 2012 Pursuing Growth in a Weak Economy." Thompson, Peteraf, Gamble, Strickland. Crafting & Executing Strategy. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2014. C-96-C-113.
Thompson, Peteraf, Gamble, Strickland. Crafting & Executing Strategy. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2014. Textbook.
Customers were frustrated as they experienced a high waiting time and this was affecting the company’s performance. As a result, the company conducted an analysis and it found that the challenge was to cut the waiting time for customers. Panera Bread had to revamp its service model by including online ordering. They spent several years implementing this new strategy. However, at the end. It gave the company a competitive advantage over its competitors. Now, the company is outperforming the industry average. This article shows that when a company addresses a problem and takes the time to formulate and implement a solution, gaining s competitive advantage is
ConAgra’s Foods mission of "one company growing by nourishing lives and finding a better way today, one bite at a time (ConAgra Foods, 2010/29/07)," is dedicated to providing consumers with good quality food that tastes great and provides good nutrition at a reasonable cost. ConAgra was founded in 1919 by Frank Little and Alva Kinney, who consolidated four grain mills as Nebraska Consolidated Mills. ConAgra financed the development of the Duncan Hines brand of cake mixes in 1951 to make flour more profitable. But in 1956 they sold their assets in Duncan Hines to Procter & Gamble, and 15 years later in 1971 Nebraska Consolidated Mills changed its name to ConAgra. Several successful and lucrative investments resulted in ConAgra Foods being the largest processed foods business in America (ConAgra Foods, 2010/29/07). Along with the...
With a high turnover, it can mean two things for a company. Panera Bread is either ineffective in
TQM is a company’s complete “culture of quality” approach which focuses on long-term success. It strives for continuous improvement, in all aspects of an organization, as a process and not as a short-term goal. TQM’s involves everyone in the organization to transform the organization into a forward-thinking entity by influencing attitudes, practices, structures, and systems of the entire organization (Business Dictionary, 2014). TQM was crafted by William Edwards Deming, a statistician who specialized in statistical process control after World War II. Deming outlined 14 points of TQM where all people of an organization can constantly search for ways to improve the process, product, and service. Deming developed the
Some strengths that Panera Bread has over it’s competition is that is provides the high and good quality ingredients to its customers. It also gives these customers a difference dining experience compared to McDonalds and Five Guys just to name two competitors. They have catering, fresh baked goods and quickly prepared foods. They also have a great brand name over the years. They have been able to continue on growing financially over the years. Studies also show that majority of customers are very satisfied with Panera Bread.
1.) Igor and Ludmilla Ivanovic tried to bring a social consciousness mentality to their for-profit enterprise. Describe how their mission statement and business model is perhaps different from that of a regular bakery.
I first dined at a Panera Bread over five years ago. Prior to buying my first chocolate chip cookie from Panera Bread, I viewed this store as a foreign restaurant in which middle-class Caucasians would eat at in order to feel wealthier and socially more important. Since my first encounter with this restaurant chain, I have had many eating experiences at Panera Bread locations in Connecticut, North Carolina, Massachusetts, and most recently Maine. The Panera Bread in Maine, however, is much different than many of the other restaurant locations I have visited. Unlike in my home state of North Carolina, or even Massachusetts, the Panera Bread location in Topsham, Maine is racially homogeneous and carries with it a particular atmosphere that I
Since its inception in 1958 as convenience store chain Pronto Markets, Trader Joe’s has definitely made a creative mark on the grocery industry. Today, Trader Joe’s has over 365 locations throughout the United States. Often referred to as a “gourmet, specialty, and natural-foods” mecca, Trader Joe’s offers customers a different experience that most (Trader Joe's: Keeping). Customers visits to TJ’s are feeling less like a household chore and more like a cultural experience. “Driven by gourmet tastes but hungering for deals, [customers] are led by cheerful guides in Hawaiian shirts who point them to culinary discoveries such as ahi [tuna] jerky, ginger granola, and baked jalapeño cheese crunchies” (Trader Joe's: Keeping). There is not better management decision than to turn a chore into a vacation of sorts. TJ’s is a constantly evolving organization fueled by the utmost secrecy of all employees that is focused on providing its customers with great quality products for low prices. With a mission “to bring you the best quality products at the best prices,” it is obvious that Trader Joe’s has an idea as to what it takes to keep its customers happy and spending money at one of its locations. Trader Joe’s is a successful organization because of a unique application of management in today’s working environment, the incomparable organization of the management system, a talented management staff, and a creative management process.
Panera Bread Company is a bakery-café that serves specialty sandwiches, gourmet soups, and sweet treats. The founders of Panera, Shaich and Kane, have consistently developed the company around a strategy of growth. The Shaich and Kane initially operated Au Bon Pain; a bakery served large urban areas. Seeking to extend into other markets, the pair obtained St. Louis Bread Company, seeing the benefits of acquiring an already established enterprise. The niche market that Au Bon Pain had enjoyed previously, had become a strategic weakness as it became limiting. The bakery-café culture developed in the St. Louis Bread Company was too costly to implement at the Au Bon Pain locations. Shaich, the remaining founder, sold Au Bon Pain which left no debt and cash reserves to expand the St. Louis Bread Company, known as Panera Bread Company outside the St. Louis area.
Burger King delivers value to their customers through their products, prices, and place and promotion strategies - (“BK doesn’t just promise value, they actually deliver value”). Burger king has been in existence for 60 years and is growing rapidly in many other countries. Burger King delivers quality, great tasting food which satisfies ones need or wants and captures the value of customers even before the first purchase is made. Burger King has products very unique from other competitors such as KFC and McDonalds. The difference is that Burger King does not limit their customers in terms of what they eat. For example, when I spoke to a customer also big fan of Burger King, he mentioned that the sauces are left public for the customer to decide on which sauce to have rather than giving the customer one kind of sauce such as McDonalds and KFC. The cold beverage is also self-help service in which customers can help themselves to a bottomless drink. This way the customer feels free to choose what satisfies the need or want.
McDonald's Corporation is the largest fast-food operator in the World and was originally formed in 1955 after Ray Kroc pitched the idea of opening up several restaurants based on the original owned by Dick and Mac McDonald. McDonald's went public in 1965 and introduced its flagship product, the Big Mac, in 1968. Today, McDonald's operates more than 30,000 restaurants in over 100 countries and have one of the world's most widely known brand names. McDonald's sales hit $57 billion company-wide and over $25 billion in the United States in 2006 (S&P).
Panera Bread was founded in 1987 by Ken Rosenthal. Before it became Panera Bread, it was known in the St. Louis area as St. Louis Bread Company. The first location opened in Kirkwood, Missouri and throughout the early years it expanded to 20 different locations and was known as the bakery-café. In 1993 Au Bon Pan purchased St. Louis Bread Company. Au Bu Pan was an established company
The main challenge is to determine how Panera Bread can continue to achieve high growth rates in the future. Panera Bread is operating in an extremely high competitive restaurant market which forces the company to improve and to grow steadily for staying profitable. The company’s mission statement of putting “a loaf of bread in every arm” is just underlying Panera’s commitment for growing. They are now in a good financial situation and facing growth rates of up to 20% per year in a niche market that has a great growth potential. In the next 7 years the fast-casual market is expected to grow by 500% in sales to a total of $30 billion.
An evaluation of the restaurant’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats served as the foundation for this marketing plan. The plan focuses on the restaurants marketing strategy, suggesting ways in which it can build on new customer relationships, and development of new food products and targeted to specific customer groups.
Starbucks Company was established in 1971 with their first store in Western Avenue from that same year to 1976. They started as retailers of ground coffee tea and spices with a single in Seattle’s historic Pike Place Market. Starbucks is named after the first mate in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick and their logo is inspired by the sea-featuring a twin-tailed siren from Greek mythology. Starbucks had always wanted to inspire the human spirit. They believe in serving the best coffee by growing the coffee under quality standards. Starbucks believes rendering good services to customers is very significant to the success of the company. From just a narrow storefront, Starbucks now has more than 20,000 stores in over 60 countries and they offer some of the world’s finest fresh-roasted whole bean coffees. Their coffee houses have become a beacon for coffee lovers everywhere. Starbucks believe that they can elevate their customers, partners, suppliers and neighbours to create positive change. They call their corporate offices “a support centre” for some reasons. They try to make everything they do there to support their retail store partners and make an impact on the communities they serve. They have a research and development team of over 200 people which are responsible for the science behind their great products. They are the innovators of delicious beverages and brewing equipments. They drive the innovations, conduct the research and test products. They have a public affairs, communications and community team of over 50 people who promotes and protects the company’s reputation all around the world. They also have a partner resources team of over 500 people that help their partners all around the world become their very best...