Panera Bread 2015 Annual Report Download - page 12

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Concept and Strategy
Thirty years ago, at a time when quick service often meant low quality, Panera set out to challenge this expectation. We believed
that food that was good and that you could feel good about, served in a warm and welcoming environment by people who cared,
could bring out the best in all of us. To us, that is food as it should be and that is why we exist.
So we began with a simple commitment: to bake fresh bread from fresh dough in our bakery-cafes. No short cuts, just bakers with
simple ingredients and hot ovens. Each night, any unsold bread and baked goods were shared with neighbors in need.
These traditions carry on today, as we have continued to find ways to be an ally to our guests. That means crafting a menu of
soups, salads and sandwiches that we are proud to feed our families. Like poultry and pork raised without antibiotics on our salads
and sandwiches. A commitment to transparency and options that empower our guests to eat the way they want. Seasonal flavors
and whole grains. And a commitment to removing artificial additives (flavors, colors, sweeteners and preservatives) from our food
in all of our bakery-cafes in the United States by the end of 2016.
We’re also focused on improving quality and convenience. With investments in technology and operations, we now offer new
ways to enjoy your Panera favorites - including mobile ordering, Rapid Pick-Up for to-go orders, delivery and consumer packaged
goods available at various grocers throughout the country - all designed to make things easier for our guests.
We believe our competitive strengths include more than just great food and superior customer service. We are committed to
creating an ambiance in our bakery-cafes and a culture within Panera that is warm, inviting, and embracing, and focus our
investments on elevating this experience. 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 are intended to 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 the use of our
bakery-cafes 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. In addition, we believe that our MyPanera® loyalty program allows us to build
deeper relationships with our customers and entice them to return to our bakery-cafes.
Our menu, operating systems, design, and real estate strategy allow us to compete successfully in several segments of the restaurant
business: breakfast, lunch, gathering place, dinner, and take home, through both on-premise sales and off-premise 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. We understand people choose restaurants depending on
individual food preferences, mood, and price. Our goal is to be the place worth crossing the street for to enjoy Panera food.
Because of that goal, we are working to drive increased customer desire through Concept Essence 2015, our blueprint for attracting
and retaining our customers that we believe differentiates us from our competitors, which includes innovations in food, marketing,
and store design.
In addition to our in-bakery-cafe dining experience, we offer Panera Catering, a nation-wide catering service that provides breakfast
assortments, sandwiches, salads, soups, pasta dishes, drinks, and bakery items using the same high-quality, fresh ingredients
enjoyed in our bakery-cafes. Panera Catering is supported by a national sales infrastructure that includes an on-line ordering
system. To support our bakery-cafes in servicing small-, medium- and large-order catering markets, we operate catering-only
units, referred to as delivery hubs. As of December 29, 2015, there were 27 Company-owned and one franchise-operated delivery
hubs.
Menu
Our menu is designed to provide a variety of food products our customers crave, along with transparency to empower them to
choose how they want to eat. Panera was the first national restaurant company to voluntarily add calories to its menu boards in
2010 and currently includes this information on menu boards at all of our Company-owned bakery-cafes. We feature a menu
which includes proprietary items prepared with high-quality, fresh ingredients, including our fresh-from-the-field romaine lettuce
and tomatoes and our chicken raised without antibiotics, as well as unique recipes and toppings designed to provide appealing,
flavorful products. Our menu embodies a comprehensive set of commitments formally articulated in our Food Policy and consistent
with our long held values. The Food Policy outlines our advocacy for a commitment to clean ingredients and a positive impact
on the food system. In May 2015, we announced our “No No List” of artificial additives that will be removed from our food in
all of our bakery-cafes in the United States by the end of 2016.
Our key menu groups are daily 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; pasta