Panera Bread 2009 Annual Report Download - page 8

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Our fiscal year ends on the last Tuesday in December. Each of our fiscal years ended December 29, 2009 and
December 25, 2007 had 52 weeks. Our fiscal year ended December 30, 2008 had 53 weeks, with the fourth quarter
comprising 14 weeks.
CONCEPT AND STRATEGY
Bread is our platform and the entry point to the Panera experience at our bakery-cafes. It is the symbol of
Panera quality and a reminder of Panera Warmth, the totality of the experience the customer receives and can take
home to share with friends and family. We strive to offer a memorable experience with superior customer service.
Our associates are passionate about sharing their expertise and commitment with our customers. We strive to
achieve what we call Concept Essence, our blueprint for attracting and retaining our targeted customers that we
believe differentiates us from our competitors. Concept Essence begins with artisan bread, quality products and a
warm, friendly and comfortable environment. It calls for each of our bakery-cafes to be a place customers can trust
to serve high quality food. Bread is our passion, soul, and expertise, and the platform that makes all of our other food
special.
We believe our competitive strengths include more than just great food at the right price. We are committed to
creating an ambiance in our bakery-cafes and a culture within Panera that is warm, inviting and embracing. We
design each bakery-cafe to provide a distinctive environment, in many cases using fixtures and materials
complementary to the neighborhood location of the bakery-cafe, as a way to engage customers. The distinctive
design and environment of our bakery-cafes offer an oasis from the rush of daily life, where our associates are
trained to greet our customers by name and have the skills, expertise and personalities to make each visit a delight.
Many of our bakery-cafes incorporate the warmth of a fireplace and cozy seating areas or outdoor cafe seating,
which facilitate utilization as a gathering spot. Our bakery-cafes are designed to visually reinforce the distinctive
difference between our bakery-cafes and other bakery-cafes and restaurants.
Our menu, operating systems, design, and real estate strategy allow us to compete successfully in several
segments of the restaurant business: breakfast, AM “chill,” lunch, PM “chill,” dinner, and take home, through both
on-premise sales and Via Panera»catering. We compete with specialty food, casual dining, and quick-service
restaurant retailers, including national, regional and locally-owned restaurants. Our competitors vary across
different dayparts, and we understand people will choose a restaurant depending on individual food preferences
and mood. Our goal is to be the best competitive alternative for those customers craving soup, salad, or a sandwich.
In addition to the dine-in and take out business, we offer Via Panera, a nation-wide catering service that
provides breakfast assortments, sandwiches, salads or soups using the same high-quality, fresh ingredients enjoyed
in our bakery-cafes. Via Panera is supported by a national sales infrastructure and we believe it represents a
meaningful growth opportunity for our business.
MENU
Our value-oriented menu is designed to provide our target customers with affordably priced products built on
the strength of our bakery expertise. We feature a menu containing proprietary items prepared with high-quality,
fresh ingredients, including our anti-biotic free chicken, as well as unique recipes and toppings designed to provide
appealing, flavorful products we believe our customers will crave.
Our key menu groups are fresh baked goods, including a variety of freshly baked bagels, breads, muffins,
scones, rolls, and sweet goods, made-to-order sandwiches on freshly baked breads, hearty, unique soups, freshly
prepared and hand-tossed salads, and custom roasted coffees and cafe beverages such as hot or cold espresso and
cappuccino drinks and smoothies.
We regularly review and update our menu offerings to satisfy changing customer preferences. We seek to
continuously improve our products, or develop new ones, such as our heart-of-the-romaine lettuce, reformulated
French baguette, and our new Napa Almond Chicken Salad sandwich.
New product rollouts are integrated into periodic or seasonal menu rotations, referred to as “Celebrations”.
Examples of products we introduced in fiscal 2009 include the Chopped Cobb Salad and Barbeque Chicken
Chopped Salad, which were introduced during our summer salad celebration. The Breakfast Power sandwich was
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