Panera Bread is planning to close all nine of its remaining fresh dough facilities (FDFs), the company said Wednesday.
The long-expected move will be followed by a three-year strategic turnaround plan for the fast-casual bakery-café chain under CEO Paul Carbone, who took the helm of Panera Brands in late March.
Specific details of the turnaround effort have not yet been revealed. But Carbone plans to focus on the guest experience, the menu and perceptions of value, as well as profitability for both franchisees and the company, said Brooke Buchanan, Panera’s chief corporate affairs officer.
To set the chain up for a return to growth, Panera is changing the way the brand produces its bread, long a core ingredient for Panera.
Traditionally, Panera’s breads would be mixed in the FDFs and dough balls would be delivered to cafes, where loaves would be proofed and baked in the mornings. Sometimes, however, cafes would run out of fresh bread later in the day.
Over the past two years, Panera has been shifting to what it has called an “on-demand” bread production model, in which the chain's various breads are made by third-party producers, using the brand’s recipes. The breads are par-baked and frozen to be finished in cafes.
It’s a system designed to ensure bread will be available all day, but it also ensures consistency and ease of operations.
And it’s scalable as the chain looks to reignite growth, said Buchanan.
Panera has already shuttered or announced plans to close nine of the fresh dough facilities, including most recently FDFs in Lenexa, Kansas, and Greensboro, N.C., as well as two in California and facilities in Texas, Arizona, Georgia, Colorado and Washington state. The market-by-market announcements have resulted in hundreds of layoffs.
Now the remaining nine FDFs in the U.S. will also be shut down, likely resulting in the layoff of hundreds more workers, though the exact number was not disclosed.
The remaining closures will take place over the next 24 months, but Buchanan could not say which FDF would be next. “It’ll be in the coming weeks,” she said.
As it has in the past, Panera will work to help those workers transition, moving them to café positions where possible, and offering job fairs and bridge benefits, she said.
“We didn’t make this decision lightly,” said Buchanan. “We wanted to make sure it was the right model for us moving forward, not only for operations and for consistency, and ensuring our high quality—working with artisan bread makers, high quality—all the great ingredients at scale, but also because of our team members.”
One example of the shift is the recently launched croissant-like bread that stars in Panera’s new sandwiches, the Croque Monsieur Croissant Toast, and Fromage Croissant Toast, introduced earlier this month on the spring menu.
Panera's new croissant bread sandwiches. | Photo courtesy of Panera Bread
Last year, Panera launched a comprehensive overhaul of the menu, focusing on the core categories of sandwiches, salads, soups and mac and cheese. More menu innovation is coming this year, as Panera works to drive traffic back to cafes, Buchanan said.
Once a powerhouse fast-casual brand, Panera’s sales declined more than 5% in 2024 to $6.1 billion. It was the chain’s first negative turn since the pandemic, though sales have been slowing since the post-COVID rebound in 2021.
Panera’s 2024 performance also paled in comparison with fast-casual sandwich peers, including Jersey Mike’s (up 11.6%), Charley’s Cheesesteaks (up 13.2%) and Jimmy Johns (up 1.9%), according to Technomic’s Top 500 restaurant chain data. Technomic is a sister brand of Restaurant Business.
Panera ended 2025 with 2,216 units in the U.S., a 1.7% increase, according to Technomic. As of April 1, Panera had 2,223 cafes in 48 states and Washington, D.C., as well as Canada. About half are company owned.
Buchanan, however, said Panera saw encouraging sales improvements in the first quarter, though she could not share specifics.
It has been a difficult two years of transformation for Panera, which has been owned by Luxembourg-based JAB Holding since 2017. Two years ago, JAB announced plans to take Panera Brands public. That effort began with the grouping of Panera Bread along with sister brands Caribou Coffee and Einstein Bros. Bagels under Panera Brands.
The preparation for the IPO has included executive moves and changes to the board. Carbone replaced former CEO José Alberto Dueñas, who stepped down in January.
When asked if the plan to go public is still in play, Buchanan said the company is focused now on Carbone’s three-year turnaround effort.
“We’re in the middle of a turnaround,” she said. “We are taking a strategic look at where we are today and where we want to be three years from now.”
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