Today, the company makes it clear that it is a baker of bread. Founder Ron Shaich has served at Panera's Chief Executive Officer for more than 25 years. Panera currently has 1,264 bakery-cafes in 40 states and Canada, delivering what the company refers to as fresh, authentic artisan bread and cafe foods. The company's mission, "a loaf of bread in every arm" sounds more like a tagline. However, the company

Coffee Industry According to legend the origins of the coffee industry began when an Arabian goatherd named Kaldi found that his goats reacted strangely around a certain green-leafed bush with red cherries. He ascertained that the excitement exhibited by the goats was due to the effects from eating these cherries. He also consumed some of the fruit and felt "invigorated"; later monks were said to have benefited from the plants qualities

In the coffee industry, intellectual property rights tend to extend only to branding. There are no rights extended to specific roasts, beans, or other inputs. Brand name protections include trademarks, slogans and other similar intellectual property. Common coffee terminology cannot be trademarked -- so for example Starbucks can trademark Frappuccino because that is not a generic term, but it cannot trademark cappuccino, because that is a generic term. In general,

One still cannot live with a clear conscience and drink a cup of coffee without paying the price of knowing that somewhere in the world there are people who are switching to growing coca instead of coffee trees because coffee, the only alternative to becoming a villain, failed to provide the necessary means for a decent living. Coffee continues to be a product that brings economic advantages for latifundia

3 Competition As stated before, the competition in the coffee shops industry has increased drastically during the past recent years. In 2003, the industry had registered total sales of over $6 billion (Ferguson, 2004). The top five competitors of Sweettreats would be: Starbucks, Nestle, McDonald's, Dunkin and Gloria Jean's. Gloria Jean's is among the leaders of the industry and they basically address their products to the young population. The corporation is based

Hot Coffee should take the middle ground on the issue of guns on their premises. Similar to Starbucks, Hot Coffee should request that owners voluntarily refrain from brining weapons into their stores. This allows the organization to respect the second amendment allowing customers to have a firearm, but also helps to limit the experience of customers within their store. According to PEW research, more Americans died from gun-related injuries than