Panera Bread
What is Panera Bread’s strategy? Which of the five generic competitive strategies discussed in Chapter 5 most closely fit the competitive approach that Panera Bread is taking? What type of competitive advantage is Panera Bread trying to achieve? The driving concept behind Panera Bread was to provide a premium specialty bakery and café experience to urban workers and suburban dwellers. Its artisan sourdough breads made with a crafts- man’s attention to quality and detail and its award- winning bakery expertise formed the core of the menu offerings. Panera Bread specialized in fresh baked goods, made-to-order sandwiches on freshly baked breads, soups, salads, custom roasted coffees, and other café beverages. Panera’s target market was urban workers and suburban dwellers looking for a quick-service meal and a more aesthetically pleasing dining experience than that offered by traditional fast food restaurants.
Panera Bread’s distinctive menu, signature café design, inviting ambience, operating systems, and unit location strategy allowed it to compete successfully in five submarkets of the food-away- from-home industry: breakfast, lunch, daytime ‘‘chill out’’ (the time between breakfast and lunch and between lunch and dinner when customers visited its bakery-cafés to take a break from their daily activities), light evening fare for eat-in or take-out, and take-home bread. In 2006, Panera began enhancing its menu in ways that would at- tract more diners during the evening meal hours. Management’s long-term objective and strategic intent was to make Panera Bread a nationally recognized brand name and to be the dominant restaurant operator in the specialty bakery-café segment. According to Scott Davis, Panera’s senior vice president and chief concept officer, the company was trying to succeed by “being better than the guys across the street” and making the experience of dining at Panera so attractive that customers would be willing to pass by the outlets of other
Panera Bread’s distinctive menu, signature café design, inviting ambience, operating systems, and unit location strategy allowed it to compete successfully in five submarkets of the food-away- from-home industry: breakfast, lunch, daytime ‘‘chill out’’ (the time between breakfast and lunch and between lunch and dinner when customers visited its bakery-cafés to take a break from their daily activities), light evening fare for eat-in or take-out, and take-home bread. In 2006, Panera began enhancing its menu in ways that would at- tract more diners during the evening meal hours. Management’s long-term objective and strategic intent was to make Panera Bread a nationally recognized brand name and to be the dominant restaurant operator in the specialty bakery-café segment. According to Scott Davis, Panera’s senior vice president and chief concept officer, the company was trying to succeed by “being better than the guys across the street” and making the experience of dining at Panera so attractive that customers would be willing to pass by the outlets of other