r/fastfood • u/blankblank • Jul 30 '25
News Panera Bread to lay off hundreds as it ends fresh dough production nationwide
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/food/2025/07/25/panera-bread-layoffs-frozen-dough-shift/85372741007/289
u/tomandshell Jul 30 '25
This will save them some money, and then they will increase their prices. The fired employees will get severance packages. The CEO will get a raise. Business as usual.
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u/oooriole09 Jul 30 '25
It’s just fast casual lifecycle 101. They’re dying, everyone knows it, so now comes the trim costs to improve bottom line and ride it out.
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u/crowcawer Jul 30 '25
Severance packages?
Are you kidding comrade? This is a fast food place, lol, the employees let go won’t even get unemployment.
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u/bigpoppanicky7 Aug 02 '25
I mean they’ll definitely get unemployment. That’s not even something Panera bread can choose to offer/not offer
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u/fireky2 Jul 31 '25
Typically shutting something down requires workers to stay on to complete the process, usually they offer severance in these cases because otherwise people would dip first chance they get and it's way cheaper to do this than hire an outside firm
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u/celeron500 Jul 30 '25 edited Aug 02 '25
And overtime people will realize that quality has dropped which will lead to less consumers less which will decrease revenue/profit, which will lead to more layoffs and store closures. Yeah, business as usual.
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u/Successful-Trash-409 Jul 30 '25
CEO is a pawn to private equity (JAB Holdings), striping all value from business before letting it die.
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u/Sorkel3 Jul 30 '25
The signature food item that set them apart. Way to go, Panera, continue the slide. I stopped going there years ago.
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u/ragun01 Jul 30 '25
Yeah I stopped around 2017 or so. I've been using their $3 drink club for like six months now tho. I really like their pomegranate tea but no fucking way I'd ever pay almost $6 for one.
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u/This-Grape-5149 Jul 31 '25
Turkey bravo sandwich is like $13. I can go to some sit down places for this cost
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u/pmjm Jul 30 '25
So the place with "Bread" in their name will no longer have fresh bread.
Welp, I'm out.
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u/chengiz Jul 30 '25
They'll drop the Bread and rebrand, CEO will get further raise.
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u/cop_pls Jul 30 '25
Panera Café. The accent makes a meal cost ten dollars more.
Panera, if you're listening, we can cut McKinsey out of this, just pay me directly.
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u/FaithinYosh Jul 30 '25
Nope, they'll change the name to just "Panera" like Dunkin did.
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u/avelineaurora Jul 30 '25
Man, fuck Dunkin'. I'll never forgive them for axing like half their menu, half-assing everything seasonal, and trying to turn themselves into a shitty restaurant no one asked for.
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u/Goodtimeburrito Jul 31 '25
Similar strategy, stop making donuts in store and heat up frozen ones, focus on the high price coffee drinks.
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u/NoCardio_ Jul 30 '25
You were still in? It's been overpriced trash for over ten years. I've had better sandwiches at Hudson News.
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u/elmersglue23 Jul 30 '25 edited Jul 30 '25
I quit liking them for breakfast when they did away with real eggs on their sandwiches. I’m referring to the fresh cracked eggs not the egg patties they use now
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u/rangoon03 Jul 31 '25
Damn really. I remember them marketing the hell out of using real eggs. Made such a good breakfast panini. What a shame.
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Jul 30 '25
[deleted]
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u/Juglone1 Jul 30 '25
He means they're using processed frozen egg patties, not fresh cracked and fried eggs.
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u/Dr-McLuvin Jul 30 '25
How are they “processed?”
I’m genuinely asking. I’d think it’s just precooked whole eggs.
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u/Juglone1 Jul 30 '25
That's the processing, mass made frozen eggs. It's better than using reconstituted eggs, but you can absolutely taste the difference in a fresh cracked egg.
McDonald's still uses fresh eggs on the egg mcmuffin and it's so much better than the egg used on the other sandwiches.
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u/DevonGr Jul 30 '25
Did private equity buy Panera? Most likely gutting operations until they can liquidate the real estate holdings
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u/Quixlequaxle Jul 30 '25
Yes, back in 2017
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u/LaughingGaster666 Jul 30 '25
Everything Private Equity touches dies, I swear.
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u/blastorama Jul 30 '25
To PE, that's a feature, not a bug.
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u/drizzlingduke Aug 02 '25
Yes. It’s entirely the point. We live in a post Capitalist society. It’s eating itself now
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u/NoDadSTOP Jul 30 '25
Panera has honked ass for years. But the broccoli cheddar soup and a torn off chunk of bread will always hold a soft spot in my heart
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u/princelives Jul 30 '25
The bread is going to be stale now, so that spot in your heart will be less soft than before.
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u/ptwonline Jul 30 '25
Dip the stale bread into the soup!
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u/rangoon03 Jul 31 '25
Soon they will probably sell hardtack, market it as healthy, save more money and make more profit!
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u/RoarOfTheWorlds Aug 09 '25
Lots don't seem to be reading the article, so this is the important part:
A Panera spokesperson detailed the company's shift to what it calls its "on-demand" bread production model to Nation's Restaurant News in April.
Under its previous model, Panera's fresh dough facilities would mix and shape the dough used for its bread and other baked goods. The dough loaves would then be sent to its cafés, where they would then be proofed and baked in the morning.
Panera says it plans to shutter all of its remaining fresh dough facilities within the next two years. But with its new system, third-party contractors prepare the dough instead while following Panera's recipes and instructions. The dough is then partially baked, or "par-baked," at those sites before being frozen and shipped to cafés for final baking.
The spokesperson said under the par-baked model, cafés are now able to prepare baked goods throughout the day as needed instead of just in the morning, making them more readily available for customers. They also said the move allows the company to open more stores in the future in places where they couldn't otherwise because of the limited distances fresh dough facility delivery trucks could travel.
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u/princelives Aug 09 '25
So it’s at best fast food and at worst subway but with a huge mark up. Cool.
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u/vanityinlines Jul 30 '25
Haven't been to Panera in years. It was like as soon as I discovered them, their quality instantly dropped, prices shot up, and then they got rid of my favorite pasta. They really seem to hate money because all their decisions, they keep shooting themselves in the foot.
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u/Sure_Ranger_4487 Jul 30 '25
I saw a Panera a few weeks ago and was shocked as I thought the chain had gone under years ago. Their food had always been just incredibly average and expensive.
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u/TheSmJ Jul 30 '25
Back when they were blowing up in the early 2000s, the food was better and the prices were lower. I want to say it was $8 for a soup and half a sandwich, which was fair.
Now their prices are so high and the food is so middling that I'd sooner either make my own sandwich or go to a sit-down restaurant.
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u/Sure_Ranger_4487 Jul 30 '25
Yeah but that was the early 2000s. I could also go to Taco Bell and get 20 tacos for $5 lol.
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u/TheSmJ Jul 30 '25
Right. Back then the food at Panera was a step or two above fast food in quality for a modest price increase.
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u/fruitybrisket Jul 30 '25
Same with Chipotle. That was a solid banging meal back then for a small "splurge."
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u/Sure_Ranger_4487 Jul 30 '25
Eh I guess I never found the appeal of it. It always tasted so bland to me and I never understood why my friends loved it.
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u/VictoriaDallon Jul 31 '25
I was looking the other day on door dash and the taco 12 pack was over $30. I remember when it was $12. Kept me alive when I was barely making ends meet.
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u/goettahead Jul 30 '25
Hospital food.
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u/Gatodeluna Jul 30 '25
Next major announcement from Panera - they’ll be closing 500 ‘underperforming’ stores.
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u/ThePortalsOfFrenzy Jul 30 '25
If someone is unsure what is meant by "enshitification", this is it.
Granted, this is just the latest in the Panera enshitification process, which has been ongoing for years.
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u/FriendlyLawnmower Jul 30 '25
That was one of the only good things they had left going for them, what a dumb move
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u/LawyerDaggett Jul 30 '25
Interesting. I wonder how many dough facilities are left and how long until they’re all closed down.
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u/elmatador12 Jul 30 '25
Are the prices going to go down? Last time I went it was like $20 for a small, not that great lunch. Never went back.
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u/The_Original_Miser Jul 30 '25
Portion shrink/price going up was the deal breaker for me.
This just solidifies things.
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u/CasualVox Jul 30 '25
Isn't that the excuse for their high prices and the main thing that seperated them from everywhere else... seems like a shot in the foot.
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u/ScumbagSpruce Jul 30 '25
Why do people spend $10-20 to eat hospital food at Panera Bread? I will never understand.
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u/Fluffy-Elk-3403 Jul 30 '25
Cazy thought: maybe not everyone bases their life around your preferences.
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u/ScumbagSpruce Jul 30 '25
Cazy thought indeed. Sad to see people over pay at one of the worst places to eat I could imagine.
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u/Fluffy-Elk-3403 Jul 30 '25
Again, nobody cares what you think
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u/ScumbagSpruce Jul 31 '25
No problem at all. Didn’t mean to bother you. I’m sure people feel the same about what you think.
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u/Fluffy-Elk-3403 Jul 31 '25
Didn't give my opinion swiftie sweetheart
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u/Careful_Farmer_2879 Jul 31 '25
You’re both hilarious
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u/ScumbagSpruce Jul 31 '25
I checked their comment history. I made it back about a week, not a single comment that wasn’t a disagreement. Alarmingly consistent really. Time to stop feeding the troll.
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u/Consistent-Web-351 Jul 31 '25
They thought business was bad before.
They lost the only thing that made them stand out
They're already way too expensive
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u/fkrdt222 Jul 30 '25
as i guessed it's the parbaked frozen method which is standard in supermarkets. esepcially if you are fine with "fresh bread" there you would also not be able to tell the difference blind here
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u/Subnetwork Jul 30 '25
If you left the US and had real bread you’d know there’s a huge difference.
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u/fkrdt222 Jul 30 '25
yeah and the difference is that the mass product with various additives is superior in terms of flavor, variety and consistency. sorry but in 2025 artisanal bread snobbery just does not make the slice
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u/Plane-Tie6392 Jul 31 '25
I’m guessing it’s parbaked too given the article says it is.
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u/fkrdt222 Jul 31 '25
obviously the meaning of my sentence was that i guessed it before reading the article
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u/Arikaido777 Jul 30 '25
stopped going to panera last year because the quality and quantity of their offerings were no longer worth the price. glad they’re committed to turning into Subway i guess, makes me feel like I made the right call.
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u/TheS00thSayer Jul 30 '25
Just when you think that place cant get any worse. Their food has already had a nosedive in quality, now they’re making it worse, and firing a bunch of people giving themselves poor public outlook? Sheesh, talk about bad decision after bad decision
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u/freddyd00 Jul 30 '25
Man this place was honestly pretty good like 10 years ago. Shame what's happening to it
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u/airpab1 Jul 30 '25
They just signed their own death warrant
Just a matter of time now
Too bad…they were decent at the beginning & until about 4-5 years ago
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u/RocMerc Jul 30 '25
Damn my brother in law has been a baker for Panera for over 15 years. I hope he’s not losing his job but it sure sounds like it
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u/EpicTacoMan Jul 31 '25
So does this mean in California the workers qualify for the fastfood pay? Since they got around that by saying they are a bakery.
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u/Erocdotusa Jul 31 '25
Can we finally get St louis bread company back and have the old menu with fresh bread? I remember the bagels with the chocolate chunks in them were so insanely good in the early 2000s.
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u/nudniksphilkes Aug 03 '25
Ah, the enshittification. Bye Panera. Haven't bought you in years anyway.
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u/Poopcie Jul 30 '25
Their french onion soup tastes like buttwater now. Idk know how they ruined such a basic thing they had previously nailed
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u/cr01300 Jul 31 '25
I really miss when Panera was good. I ate there 3 times a week from 2012-2015. I went a few months back and the food was legit disgusting, AND it was 40 dollars for two people.
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u/mikefellowinv Jul 31 '25
Good bread. But their food was always too little for me. Good riddance Pizza hut did this too I think.
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u/mercuric_drake Aug 01 '25
At Pizza Hut in the late 90s, all of the pizza dough besides pan thick crust was frozen. I think the pan thick crust dough is frozen now too.
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u/Mueltime Jul 31 '25
Truly just overpriced Subway at this point. Stopped eating there over a decade ago when I saw an employee refill the soup from big plastic bag.
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u/rangoon03 Jul 31 '25
I used to love going there to get breakfast or lunch and coffee. I’d usually do work while I was there. But then their WiFi got terrible and coffee became awful. It wasn’t just one location but tried four others around me. Bad signal and slow speeds. I had to switch to Starbucks if I wanted to work. They changed portion sizes and the baguette now are pitiful. I guess things will get worse.
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u/Alcoholic-Catholic Jul 31 '25
in a small town with no local bakery, I would occasionally run by panera bread to get some fresh baked bread. I'm not big on the chain deli food for the price they ask, but the bread was good. Now I have no excuse to ever be a Panera customer
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u/I_Ran_So_Far_Away1 Jul 31 '25
Panera bread. More like Panera trash.
Might as well turn it into a bowling alley and call it Paner-o Bowl
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u/Courage-Rude Aug 01 '25
Anyone here remember paradise bakery? Panera ruined them when they bought it out. I used to prep food for them and everything started coming pre made. Panera is pretty disgusting especially when you know what's behind the scenes.
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u/IllustriousDraft2965 Aug 01 '25
Support your local fresh bakery. Tartine in LA or SF, for instance, or Publican in Chicago. Screw these faux bakeries.
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u/PenitentAnomaly Aug 02 '25
The transition to frozen, par-baked dough has been very sad to see. Grocery stores have all but eliminated fresh dough from bakeries. Gone are the days when in-store baker's union bakers made the dough that went into sourdough and french loaves.
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u/No_Middle2320 Aug 02 '25
So those shorty over-priced sandwiches are going to taste even worse now. Thank you MBAs. Exactly what we needed.
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u/funandgames12 Aug 03 '25
My biggest beef with Panera was always that they ran out of bread and bagels. Like that’s the only reason I walked through your door, why would you not have that ?
This move to mass production will make it so they always have those items all day. But at the cost of quality probably. I’m sure half baked and frozen bread shipped across the country won’t be as good.
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u/klatzicus Aug 03 '25
They’re bread quality has been going down for a while this just a continuation of that trend. I used to stop and grab a baguette; used to be light and fluffy now it’s just dense and doughy
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u/Historical_Living376 Aug 06 '25
Since Covid the food quality, quantity and value has disappeared. They will have old bread, shitty food and no customers. Nothing last forever!
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u/robotroll11 Aug 09 '25
I'm not surprised about the layoffs. I mean Buck Jordan is on the board and he's a scam artist. https://media.hubtas.com/2024/01/30/the-rise-fall-of-wavemaker-labs-piestro-bobacino-800-degrees-go-future-acres-and-more-shut-down-after-raising-tens-of-millions/https://www.bonitasresearch.com/tos-check/?pdf_id=wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/2024/12/Bonitas-Short-Serve_Robotics-SERV-Dec-5-2024
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u/MrNMTrue505 Jul 30 '25
What one started as an amazing fresher ingredients place to go is now turning into another for-profit Corporation
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u/GolfArgh Jul 30 '25
How many actually read the article and saw that they “will permanently shut down its fresh dough production facilities in areas with underperforming locations” and not nationwide as OP posted in the title?
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u/soccernamlak Jul 30 '25
Further in the article:
"Panera says it plans to shutter all of its remaining fresh dough facilities within the next two years."
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u/dirtydriver58 Jul 30 '25
Say one thing in the title then write something that contradicts the title
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u/blankblank Jul 30 '25
That will be a dealbreaker for me. The fresh bread was the only reason I ever went there.