The legacy of Panera Bread began in 1981 as Au Bon Pain Co., it was founded by two friends Louise Kane and Ron Shaich. Panera bakery cafes are located in 44 states in the United States as well as Ontario, Canada. In May 1999, all business units of Au Bon Pain Co., Inc. were sold except Panera Bread, and the company was renamed. Panera bread. Since these transactions were completed, the company's shares have increased thirteen-fold and over $1 billion in shareholder value has been created. Panera Bread was recognized as one of Business Week's “100 Fastest-Growing Companies.” As reported by The Wall St. Journal's Shareholder Scorecard in 2006, Panera Bread was recognized as the top performer in the restaurant category in terms of shareholder returns over one, five and ten years. (Panera, 2013) Discuss Panera’s business strategy. Panera operates in three different business segments; company-owned bakery-café operations, franchise operations, and fresh dough operations. As of June 2013, there were 1,708 Panera restaurants operating in 44 states as well as Ontario, Canada, both company-owned and franchised. This represents an increase of 328 restaurants in 4 years. (Panera, 2013) The key element of Panera's growth strategy was focused on increasing store profits, increasing transactions and gross profit per transaction, using its capital intelligently, and implementing place as drivers of concept differentiation and competitive advantage. Panera has always kept an eye on the market, both new and existing markets. In 2009, Panera had a different strategy than others. This is the moment when the economy deteriorated. Some restaurants lowered their prices to attract customers, while Panera kept its prices unchanged. They are in the middle of paper.......com/articles/2013-10-03/panera-bread-ceo-ron-shaich-on-restaurant-industry-competitiveness November 7, 2013Griffith University (2013). “Franchise Issues.” Retrieved from http://www.franchise.edu.au/franchise-problems.html on November 7, 2013 Gouze, E (October 24, 2012) “Restaurant Competitive Landscape” Retrieved from http://rig001.blogspot.com/ 2012/ 10/competitive-landscape-of-restaurant.html on November 7, 2013. Panera (2013) “Why Panera” retrieved from https://www.panerabread.com/en-us/company/careers.html on November 07. 2013Vincelette , JP and Fogarty, EA (2012) “Panera Bread Company (2010): Still Rising Fortunes? (13th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Wheelen, T.L. and Hunger, J.D. (2012). “Strategic management and business policy: towards global sustainability” (13th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.