The Panera Bread at 964 Barrett Parkway in Kennesaw has closed. The quick-serve bakery cafe was located in small building along Barrett Parkway which it shared with Chipotle. Sources in the area indicate that Panera abruptly closed this past weekend.
Despite its permanent closure, there are still several active job listings for the restaurant, including at least one on the Panera website.
Related: A new drive-thru enabled Shake Shack is expected to open in August in Kennesaw.
As a brand, Panera is not what it once was, and the public seems to have taken note. The majority of the "bakery's" breads are now produced off-site and the quality of the food had gone down even as prices have gone up. The company faced lawsuits and negative public sentiment due to their controversial "Charged Lemonades" which contained what at least one lawsuit asserted was a lethal amount of caffeine. The line was discontinued in 2024 and was replaced this past March with the introduction of "Energy Refreshers," a similar line of drinks but with 10% of the caffeine of the "Charged Lemonades."
Founded in St. Louis in as St. Louis Bread Co in 1987, the company was rebranded Panera in 1997. In 2017 Panera was acquired by JAB Holding Co., a Luxembourg-based private equity firm. JAB, then heavily involved in luxury retail, has over the past decade divested significant parts of its luxury holdings while simultaneously becoming a bakery and beverage behemoth.
JAB Holdings today includes not only Panera, but majority stakes in Einstein Bros. Bagels, Bruegger's Bagels, Stumptown Coffee, Caribou Coffee, Peet's, Krispy Kreme, Keurig Dr. Pepper, and Pret a Manger, among others.
Panera continues to operate another Kennesaw location at The Village at Town Park on Chastain Road, as well as dozens of others around metro Atlanta. That said, the Kennesaw closure follows the closures of Panera units in Dunwoody (Ashford Lane and Perimeter Mall), Buckhead (Lenox Square), and Midtown (Ansley Mall), among others. Many years ago, when the company was known as St. Louis Bread Company, there was also a location within Town Center at Cobb in Kennesaw.
According to the Panera Bread website, the company operates more than 2,200 restaurants across the country, with Georgia and its 64 units the chain's 11th largest market by unit count.
Are you surprised to see Panera Bread close in Kennesaw? What would you like to see open in place of the now former Panera Bread in Kennesaw? What recent or upcoming Kennesaw area restaurant are you most excited about?
Please share your thoughts below.
9 comments:
Have only eaten at Panera Bread once or twice. It now seems like decades ago. Not impressed, overpriced sandwiches that were not even of average quality. A homemade PBJ beats Panera hands down, all day long.
I used to go A LOT. A couple of times per week sometimes. But now I literally don't even think about it like I used to. They shocked the hell outta me by being able to charge a monthly fee for a soda subscription, I still can't believe that worked! But then they got restrictive with it? I'm like... you can't be losing money with this thing, some people don't even go in a month, and that's free money! Anyway, I guess the ghosts of Sizzler and Steak & Ale, along with many others, are getting a spot prepared for them.
Why do these restaurants just keep abandoning these sites? Why don’t they close down properly. Its a huge mess to clean up when they just walk away and then the power gets shut off and everything rots in there.
They did have a great program called Sip Club that offered unlimited soda, teas and regular coffees at any location for $15 a month. They also recently changed that to 30 drinks a month.
they abandon the property because they are tenants and don't own the property.
Was a shift lead At the opening of the St. Louis bread Company at town center mall. The soups were frozen a lot of the pastries were frozen, but the bakers would come in overnight to bake the rest of the breads. Prices were reasonable. I don’t think anything was over nine dollars as far as lunch goes. Service was impeccable. Coffee was amazing. And then Panera took over. Enough said
Was a customer of the this and other locations and would meet customers at the restaurant.
Typed many reports at this location and others.
Corporate greed took over and service and food quality and quantity suffered as well as cleaning of the dining room.
Good luck to the staff.
So that means they can just lock up one day and never come back, never retrieve the items inside, let the food rot in the hot store without electricity?
The St Louis Bread Co at Gwinnett Place was filled with roaches.
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