Who is panera owned by

While they were working together, Shaich and Kane recognized that croissants filled with ingredients such as Boursin cheese and fresh roast beef were a hit, according to Panera.

Soon, the bakery transitioned into a bakery-cafe. By , the company, Au Bon Pain Co. Before the sale, Rosenthal, who was 44 years old at the time, was looking for a fresh business idea, according to American Express. After his brother invited him to San Fransisco to see European-style bakeries, he fell in love with sourdough bread. The parent company of St. Louis-based Panera Bread is separating the bakery-cafe into a new business unit in an attempt to help it "turbocharge" growth for two of its other fast-casual restaurant holdings.

In a news release Thursday, the company said the unit will be "anchored in Panera Bread's distinctive competencies" positioning it to turbocharge the growth in Caribou Coffee and Einstein Bros. In an interview with Reuters , Chadhary said each brand will retain its own apps and loyalty programs, but will collaborate on menu and beverage development, data analytics, suppliers and in other areas. Combined, the new unit will oversee businesses with more than 3, locations: 2, for Panera, 1, for Einstein and for Caribou.

The move to create a new business unit, though, is fueling new speculation that it could be looking to make Panera a public company again. Reuters on Thursday described the restructuring as "the kind of maneuver companies sometimes make ahead of a deal like an initial public offering or sale. We then focused all of our time, treasure and talent on growing Panera.

The s cemented what we call our Contrarian Philosophy. During the go-go years of the early s, we maintained our steady, disciplined rate of growth. We invested in the customer experience — things like design and WiFi, which encouraged guests to linger — and turned Panera into a gathering place.

During the recession in the late s, when most restaurant companies were slowing growth and neglecting the guest experience, we invested in a better guest experience. The result: We built some of the most profitable cafes in our history, took market share from competitors and our stock price tripled.

By the end of the decade, there were nearly 1, Panera bakery-cafes. The themes we bet on — digital, clean food, loyalty and multiple channels of access to our products — are now redefining the restaurant industry and we are leading in each of these areas.

Our MyPanera loyalty program is the largest in the industry, with 28 million members.