Panera Bread celebrates its 1,000th bakery café

 

You build your selected store in 15 days. Ask Mother Nature to deliver puffy, dark clouds filled with pockets of rain. And you hold your celebration in the backyard of the world's largest restaurant chain – McDonald's.

 

"There's a huge sign going up. (It will say) 'Billions and billions of cinnamon crunch bagels sold,'" Ron Shaich, Panera Bread chairman and chief executive, said jokingly to a large group of Panera franchisees and executives.

 

If Shaich wasn't the happiest camper among the 200 Panera stakeholders attending the Nov. 7 event, he was certainly one of them. The CEO and his colleagues meandered around their 1,000th bakery café, an end-cap unit in Oak Brook, Ill., sipping champagne and eating premium finger foods. [Editor's note: The store won't be open to the public until Nov. 16.]

 

Panera has turned in a solid 2006. Year-to-date comps are up 4.7 percent and, according to Technomic data, the chain makes up 16 percent of the fast-casual segment's sales.

 

In his speech to his associates, Shaich said the restaurant industry has 10 years to catch up with Panera.

 

"The American consumer absolutely gets it," Shaich said. "And that is people who really do give a hoot about quality; people really do give a hoot about where they sit; and people really do give a hoot about the people who serve them."

 

Brian Lemek, owner of 32 Panera Breads in the Baltimore area, is scheduled to open the 1,001st bakery café later this month. "I guess they wanted the 1,000th store to be company owned, but that's OK. It's an amazing accomplishment," Lemek said.

 

A former stock broker, Lemek's 30-plus stores generate $75 million in sales, Shaich said. "Our system is filled with people just like him (Lemek)," Shaich said. "Smart people who know how to take care of the customer."

 

Although Panera evaluates franchisees for two years before offering an agreement, operators are not the ones who make the bakery café so successful. Sure, owners are important, but customers truly define the company, Shaich said.

 

"Whether they (customers) are looking for a place to chill out or a place to hang with family, these people are the cornerstone of Panera and the cornerstone of our success," he said in conclusion of his speech. "We want them to talk about this experience as 'my Panera.' We need to be thankful to this customer."

 

An executive since 1991, Shaich is no stranger to the restaurant business. He knows how quickly things can go south. But one could analyze a dozen publicly traded companies and struggle to find an organization that beats Panera's profit margins. Shaich claims he doesn't check Panera's stock prices daily and that he only concentrates on improving the chain's quality.

 

"I'm not running this company for Wall Street," Shaich said. "The real question: What will it take for us to open 2,000 cafes?" 

 

To view a slide show of the 1,000th store opening, click here.