Panera Bread Company-Growth in a Difficult Economy Panera Bread Company - Growth in a Difficult Economy What is Panera Bread's strategy? Which of the five generic competitive strategies & #8230; What type of competitive advantage is Panera Bread trying to achieve? Panera Bread's business strategy was to make the bread company a brand recognized nationally and to be a dominant restaurant in the specialty bakery-cafe segment. This was to be achieved by using

Panera Bread Company operates in the restaurant industry. The company is operating in the retail bakery-cafe segment of the restaurant industry in the service sector. The company can be considered as a "fast casual restaurant" because it is a mixture of the fast food and causal dinning (Tillotson, 2003). The company is a listed company in NASDAQ as PNRA. Its stores are mostly located in suburban areas. Main competitors of

3. Panera is doing well financially. Its revenues and profits have been growing steadily for the past five years. The gross margin is 61.4% and its net margin is 7.46%. Panera is liquid, with a current ratio of 1.59 and a debt to equity ratio of 0.52. Inventory turns over 13 times per year. The ROA is 14.9%, the ROE 22.93% and the ROC 19.3% (MSN Moneycentral, 2012). In general,

. Panera Bread needs to move away from word-of-mouth advertising and embrace more effective means of advertising and awareness building strategies. Panera has relied largely on word-of-mouth communication of positive customer experiences to build awareness of the concept. Advertising spending (as a percent of bakery-caf? sales) has been relatively modest, including 2.2% in 2003, 2.1% in 2004, and 2.1% in 2005. Marketing efforts have been mostly focused on the use of in- store promotional signage (e.g., point-of-purchase

6 Doing well Total scores 1 2.4 Discuss the General Environment In beginning to view the external environment facing Panera, one must look at the opportunities and threats that are present in the field. Within the industry, Panera is at the top of its gain, bringing in considerable profits, focusing on new technology and sustainability, and continuously expanding its presence throughout North America. Additionally, its societal focus on healthy living and environmentally friendly practices through the

These categories, along with analytical information, are as follows, in no particular order: MARKET SHARE- Competitive pressures and the tendency of consumers to be exceedingly fickle pose threats to Panera Bread's maintenance of current market share and the gaining of market share in the future. Therefore, strategy must be undertaken that will hold and grow market share as the company moves forward. INNOVATION- it is important to understand that the dietary