ST. LOUIS — Panera Bread Inc. has reported the results of its fourth-quarter and fiscal year 2007 sales, for the period ended Dec. 25, 2007.
For the quarter, comparable bakery-cafe sales increased 2.6 percent at company-owned locations and 1.2 percent at franchised operated locations. Overall, systemwide comps increased 1.7 percent for the quarter.
For the year, systemwide comps increased 1.6 percent.
Fourth-quarter revenues spiked 29 percent, up from $232.9 million in Q4 '06 to $328 million. For the year, revenues increased 29 percent, up from $828 million in FY '06 to $1 billion in FY '07.
Net income for the company's 2007 fourth quarter dropped to $17.8 million, down from a net income of $18.9 million reported in the same period last year.
For the year, Panera's net income dropped 2 percent, down from $58.8 million in fiscal year 2006 to $57.4 million in FY 2007.
Panera drops Crispani
During a Feb. 13 conference call, Panera Bread CEO Ron Shaich announced the company's removal of its Crispani menu option. The removal is part of the company's "three-prong plan of action" to strengthen the business over the next two years, Shaich said.
"As with everything, we took great learning from the failure of this product," he said. "We know that despite a great product, we simply did not have the marketing muscle or the staying power to engage the customer such that they saw Panera as a place for pizza."
The item's removal is expected to eliminate about $400 worth of labor costs per cafe per week, said Panera Bread CFO Jeffrey Kipp.
In November, the company executed a 2.5-percent price increase. At the end of 2007, it increased dough costs by 5 percent and have announced another increase, of approximately 6.8 percent, set to take hold in April. A 4-percent increase will take effect mid-year.
