What makes panera successful

At the time, the food industry, which had previously been dominated by mass-market brands such as Coca-Cola, Budweiser, and Maxwell House, was being taken over by companies like Vitamin Water, Sam Adams, and Starbucks. Shaich believed that the burgeoning category of higher-end restaurant chains, which came to be known as fast casual , was about to explode.

The company went public in and continued expanding at a brisk pace. In , Shaich decided to sell Au Bon Pain to focus on Panera, which he felt was best positioned to take advantage of the direction in which the industry was moving.

And what fast food had become was a commodity. It had become nutritional cocaine. By , Panera was opening a new store approximately every three days, and had more than a billion dollars in annual sales. But the financial crisis had made consumers more cautious with their spending. To keep them coming, Shaich developed a system for digital ordering, a catering and delivery service, and a loyalty program. These programs required significant investment, but they paid off.

By , Panera had become one of the most successful restaurant chains in the United States, and much of the industry adopted its innovations. It now has more than two thousand locations, and more than a hundred thousand employees.

Over the last few years, however, Shaich has come to believe that the current business environment is far less amenable to the process of building companies like his.

Wall Street has embraced the idea that companies exist solely to serve the holders of their stock. Under this way of thinking, managers of companies should focus their actions on driving short-term value for their shareholders, and should pay far less or no regard to other constituents who may have a stake in the business, such as employees, customers, or members of the community.

Technomic recently released its annual Top Chain Restaurant Report, which examines the top players in the chain restaurant industry and ranks those restaurants by sales. Unsurprisingly, the results of the annual ranking show that fast casual continues to be a powerhouse — the segment grew sales Over the past couple of years, Panera has been aggressively fighting its way up the ladder with a series of investments in technology and menu offerings.

In April , the fast-casual company unveiled Panera 2. These rollouts allow for a smoother in-store traffic flow for dine-in and carryout customers as well as increased convenience and speedier service for on-the-go customers. In addition to Panera 2. Panera plans to use in-house delivery drivers instead of a third-party delivery service to ensure consistent quality and a faster delivery time.

Delivery options will be available for both small single-person orders and large catering orders. Throughout these new initiatives, Panera has continued to stand by its food philosophy by creating an unacceptable ingredients list. They excel in each of these areas just as the original Mickey D's did back in the s. They have identified their niche, offered clearly fresh food choices, baked goods that support the food line , have a quick customer flow, a proven delivery system that works, a price that is reasonable.

As long as they keep this model they will have success. Over time they will need some freshening of the menu, different lines, etc. There is one subtle marketing trick they have used that many would not recognize. Any brick and mortar store that is open, and has no cars in the lot, sends a signal that no one is there because of the quality.

That's just human thinking. So by offering free WiFi, Paneras solved that because there are always people drinking coffee during the slow time using free WiFi.