Weaknesses

High levels of selling, general and administrative expenses - Despite the meteoric revenue growth as is shown in Appendix A, there continues to be the weakness of having high levels of SG&A expenses. For example, the company has at times experienced over 19% growth in these expenses, as was the case between 2000 and 2003.

A lack of variety and reason to eat other meals besides breakfast at Panera Bread outlets - This is a major weakness and one the company is looking for resolve, as internally there are discussions today of moving into thin-crust pizzas based on their bread expertise, and also opening up a larger dinner menu.

Concentration in specific markets to the exclusion of others...

The discussions within the company center on a thin-crust pizza they are tentatively calling Crispani, the company is moving through test markets of this concept today and hopes to generate greater customer in-store sales as a result. Panera Bread is predicting that Crispani will generate a higher