Baking & Snack - December 2004 - 25

From ABP to SLB to PBC
ing of risk between the vendor and Panera, and it often
takes nine months to a year to forge such agreements.
One of the key players in assisting Mr. Borland and
Mr. Ray with these agreements is longtime associate
Larry Katz, an attorney/consultant who has worked with
Mr. Borland on these types of agreements since the sale
of the Mexico, MO, plant to Bunge Foods.
The company takes the same approach to its distribution partners. "Now we are taking what we learned in
supply chain management for the bakery side to our
other food suppliers," Mr. Borland added. "This is really
important to us."
Improvement is a constant goal for Panera managers,
by design. "Our next thrust will be to focus on ingredients and processes to make sure they are the highest in
quality," Mr. Borland noted. "The intent is to add to quality rather than take anything away.
"People come to our bakery-cafes because they trust
us," he continued.
SUCCESS CRITERIA. Panera Bread's supply chain operations contribute well to the company's bottom line.
Still, that's not the whole story of success here, either for
the company or for Mr. Borland.

Panera Bread Co. began life in 1981
as Au Bon Pain Co. Based at Boston,
MA, that company was founded
by Louis Kane and Ron Shaich and
grew along the East Coast and internationally during the 1980s and
1990s. It became the dominant operator in the bakery-cafe category.
In 1993, ABP purchased Saint
Louis Bread Co., a chain of 20 bakery-cafes in the St. Louis, MO, area.
The company restaged the SLB
concept, increased unit volumes
by 75% and, ultimately, changed its
name to Panera Bread in 1997.
By that time, company managers
recognized the potential for Panera
to become one of the nation's
leading brands. Chairman Shaich

described the difficult decision
to separate and sell off the ABP
business units: "I suggested to our
board that we sell all our other
businesses and 'double down' on
Panera." Now, the company could
concentrate efforts and financial
resources on Panera.
One of those business units was
a highly automated frozen dough
plant, a greenfield project built at
Mexico, MO, and put on-stream
in 1996. Designed to serve both
ABP and SLB, the plant was sold to
Bunge Foods, which signed a longterm supply contract with Panera as
part of the sale. It is now owned by
Dawn Foods, which Panera named
its "Supplier of the Year" in 2003.

"My biggest accomplishments come from helping people develop and grow to attain their career aspirations,"
he said. "I take more pride in this team than anything
else. When you help people develop and grow, those accomplishments don't go away."
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December 2004 / BAKING & SNACK / 27

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