Panera Bread 2012 Annual Report Download - page 14

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Management Information Systems
Each of our Company-owned bakery-cafes have programmed point-of-sale registers which collect transaction data used to generate
pertinent information, including, among other things, transaction counts, product mix, and average check. All Company-owned
bakery-cafe product prices are programmed into the point-of-sale registers from our support centers. We allow franchisees access
to certain of our proprietary bakery-cafe systems and systems support. Franchisees are responsible for providing the appropriate
menu prices, discount rates, and tax rates for system programming. We have a number of systems' initiatives underway designed
to provide greater access for customers, increased operational capabilities and improvement in core enterprise systems. Most
bakery-cafes also provide customers free Internet access through a managed WiFi network. As a result, we host one of the largest
free public WiFi networks in the country.
We use in-store enterprise application tools to assist in labor scheduling and food cost management, to provide corporate and retail
operations management quick access to retail data, to allow on-line ordering with distributors, and to reduce managers’
administrative time. We use retail data to generate daily and weekly consolidated reports regarding sales and other key metrics,
as well as detailed profit and loss statements for our Company-owned bakery-cafes. Additionally, we monitor the transaction
counts, product mix, average check, and other sales trends. We also use this retail data in our “exception-based reporting” tools
to safeguard our cash, protect our assets, and train our associates. Our fresh dough facilities have information systems which accept
electronic orders from our bakery-cafes and monitor delivery of the ordered product back to our bakery-cafes. We also use
proprietary on-line tools, such as eLearning, to provide on-line training for our retail and fresh dough facility associates and on-
line baking instructions for our bakers.
Competition
We compete with a variety of food service companies. Our bakery-cafes compete with specialty food, casual dining and quick
service cafes, bakeries, and restaurant retailers, including national, regional and locally-owned cafes, bakeries, and restaurants.
Our bakery-cafes compete in several segments of the restaurant business: breakfast, lunch, gathering place, dinner, take home,
and catering. We believe we are able to compete favorably against other food service providers through our convenient bakery-
cafe locations, environment, food and beverage quality, customer service, and price. We also compete for leased space in desirable
locations. Some of our competitors are larger than we are and have substantially greater financial resources than we do. For further
information regarding competition, see Item 1A. Risk Factors.
Employees
As of December 25, 2012, we had approximately 20,800 full-time associates (defined as associates who work, on average, 25
hours or more per week), of whom approximately 1,000 were employed in general or administrative functions, principally in our
support centers, approximately 1,300 were employed in our fresh dough facility operations, and approximately 18,500 were
employed in our bakery-cafe operations as bakers, managers, and associates. We also had approximately 15,500 part-time hourly
associates at our bakery-cafes as of December 25, 2012. We do not have any collective bargaining agreements with our associates
and we consider our employee relations to be good. We place a priority on staffing our bakery-cafes, fresh dough facilities, and
support center operations with skilled associates and invest in training programs to ensure the quality of our operations.
Proprietary Rights
Our brand, intellectual property, and our confidential and proprietary information are very important to our business and competitive
position. We protect these assets through a combination of trademark, copyright, trade secret, unfair competition, and contract
laws.
The Panera®, Panera Bread®, Saint Louis Bread Co.®, Panera® Catering, You Pick Two®, Paradise Bakery®, Paradise Bakery &
Café®, the Mother Bread® design, and MyPanera® trademarks are some of the trademarks we have registered with the United
States Patent and Trademark Office. In addition, we have filed to register other trademarks with the United States Patent and
Trademark Office. We have also registered some of our trademarks in a number of foreign countries. In addition, we have registered
and maintain numerous Internet domain names.
Corporate History and Additional Information
We are a Delaware corporation. Our principal offices are located at 3630 South Geyer Road, Suite 100, St. Louis, Missouri 63127
and our telephone number is [phone].
We were originally organized in March 1981 as a Massachusetts corporation under the name Au Bon Pain Co., Inc. and
reincorporated in Delaware in June 1988. In December 1993, we acquired Saint Louis Bread Company. In August 1998, we sold
our Au Bon Pain division and changed our name to Panera Bread Company.