Business & Tech
Panera To Buy Au Bon Pain
Panera made two major announcements on Wednesday: It will buy a competitor and its CEO will resign.
LOS ANGELES, CA -- Fast-casual eatery and bakery Panera announced on Wednesday it will buy competitor Au Bon Pain, reuniting the two chains. Au Bon Pain currently has more than 300 locations nationwide, including at UC Los Angeles and UC Irvine, while Panera has more than 2,000 locations in the U.S. and Canada.
The St. Louis-based company also announced on Wednesday that CEO Ron Shaich will step down but will continue to work for parent company, JAB. Shaich will be replaced by president Blaine Hurst. The change takes effect Jan. 1.
Panera and Au Bon Pain were once one company, according to BusinessInsider.com.
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"Panera has its roots in Au Bon Pain, Inc. — a bakery-café created in the '80s when Shaich combined his cookie shop with the small bakery chain Au Bon Pain. In 1999, the company formerly known as Au Bon Pain, Inc. sold all of its Au Bon Pain units and renamed itself Panera LLC," the news site said.
--Photo by Steven Senne/Associated Press
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