Diving certificate:
- Panera Bread is laying off about 17% of its 1,800 corporate employees, or about 306 employees, the Wall Street Journal reports.
- The job cuts were primarily focused on supporting staff positions and are intended to help streamline the company and improve operations for general managers.
- Panera Brands — comprised of Panera Bread, Caribou Coffee and Einstein Bros. Bagels — continues to prepare for an initial public offering. Earlier this year, the company reshuffled its C-suite with a new CEO and CFO.
Insight into the dive:
TThe cuts at Panera are expected to better position the company for the future and help improve the guest experience, Panera said in a statement sent to Restaurant Business. Several other chains, including McDonald’s and Chipotle, have downsized their operations this year as part of restructuring efforts.
“To fully enable this simplified model, we made some difficult decisions to better align our support structure with our strategy,” Panera said. “This decision was not made lightly and we are extremely grateful for the contributions of those affected. We are committed to treating every employee with respect and compassion during this transition period.”
In addition to the C-suite changes, Panera Bread has made several board changes this year. First, Niren Chaudhary, CEO of Panera Bread, was named chairman of Panera Brands José Alberto Dueñas – then president and CEO of Einstein Bros. Bagels – later became CEO of Panera Brands July 1: The company named Krispy Kreme CEO Mike Tattersfield as chairman, effective January, after he resigned from the donut chain.
Panera did not respond to a request for comment on the layoffs by press time.
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