Opinion: Most Bagels Are Round Bread, Slice Them Any Way You Like

When I first heard about bagelgate my initial thought was it was wrong to slice bagels like bread. Then I remembered a couple of points:

• Most bagels today aren’t bagels, they’re round bread with a hole. Authentic bagels spend days in a cooler, are then put in boiling water before being baked. These are commonly known as water bagels.
• I’ve been to events/meetings where the hosts included bread-sliced bread bagels. This is very convenient for groups.

At home we have a proper bagel slicer, but if I were buying a box to take to feed a crowd I’d certainly get them bread sliced!

Here are the results of the recent non-scientific Sunday Poll:

Q: Agree or disagree: Bagels should never be sliced like bread.

• Strongly agree: 2 [8%]
• Agree: 1 [4%]
• Somewhat agree: 2 [8%]
• Neither agree or disagree: 4 [16%]
• Somewhat disagree: 2 [8%]
• Disagree:5 [20%]
• Strongly disagree: 8 [32%]
• Unsure/No Answer: 1 [4%]

You can get water bagels in the St. Louis region, a couple of options include The Bagel Factory and Bridge Bread.

— Steve Patterson

Panera’s St. Louis Beginnings Not Part Of Narrative, Sold To European Investment Firm

Last week we learned that Panera is being sold to a German European investment firm:

JAB Holding Co., the owner of Caribou Coffee and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, said Wednesday that it would buy Sunset Hills-based Panera Bread Co. in a deal valued at about $7.5 billion, including debt, as it expands its coffee and breakfast empire.

Unlike other St. Louis-based companies that have been bought up, there were no financial struggles indicating a sale was coming, no succession questions, no negotiation drama. Panera’s sale came out of the blue, even to analysts who follow the industry. (Post-Dispatch)

Panera locations locally are called St. Louis Bread Company, the name used on the Kirkwood location opened in 1987.  As I said in a recent post, Panera CEO Ron Shaich is from Boston — and he continues to live there.

Nationally Panera’s connection to St. Louis isn’t mentioned at all:

Ron Shaich, Panera’s personable chief executive who controls roughly 15 percent of its stock, said one of the biggest attractions to the JAB deal was the chance to take his company private.

“For the last 20 years, I’ve spent 20 percent of my time telling people what we’ve done to grow and another 20 percent of my time telling people what we’re going to do to grow,” Mr. Shaich said in an interview. “I won’t have to do that anymore.”

Investment analysts have speculated for years that Mr. Shaich, 63, has been looking for a way to reduce his role at the company after spending more than two decades building it up from a tiny 400-square foot cookie store in Boston. (New York Times)

The original creator of St. Louis Bread Co., Ken Rosenthal, sold out back in 1993 — his small chain is not part of Panera’s narrative. To be fair, it is mentioned in their history:

The Panera Bread® legacy began in 1981 as Au Bon Pain Co., Inc. Founded by Louis Kane and Ron Shaich, the company prospered along the east coast of the United States and internationally throughout the 1980s and 1990s and became the dominant operator within the bakery-cafe category.

In 1993, Au Bon Pain Co., Inc. purchased Saint Louis Bread Company®, a chain of 20 bakery-cafes located in the St. Louis area.

The company then managed a comprehensive re-staging of Saint Louis Bread Co. Between 1993 and 1997 average unit volumes increased by 75%. Ultimately the concept’s name was changed to Panera Bread.

By 1997, it was clear that Panera Bread had the potential to become one of the leading brands in the nation. In order for Panera Bread to reach its potential, it would require all of the company’s financial and management resources. (Panera)

When the deal closes in the 2nd half of this year, Panera will be a subsidiary of JAB Holdings. The good news is other JAB subsidiaries appear to keep their headquarters where they were when purchased.

— Steve Patterson

Readers: Retain St. Louis Bread Company Name On Local Panera Bread Locations

My husband and I use the Panera Bread name to describe both St. Louis Bread Co & Panera locations. The Panera Bread locations in the immediate St. Louis area are known as St. Louis Bread Company.

Get an hour from downtown and they become Panera Bread.  As I mentioned in the Sunday Poll, when I worked in Kirkwood (2000-2004) we often got lunch from the original location, but by that point the original founder was ;png out of the picture.

St. Louis Bread was founded by Ken Rosenthal in 1987 when he opened the first location in Kirkwood, Missouri. In 1993, Au Bon Pain Co. purchased the St. Louis Bread Company. In 1997, Au Bon Pain changed the company name to Panera Bread, a made-up name combining the Italian words pane (bread) and era (time)—time of bread. At the same time, the St. Louis Bread Company was renovating its 20 bakery-cafés in the St. Louis area.

In May 1999, to expand Panera Bread into a national restaurant, Au Bon Pain Co. sold its other chains, including Au Bon Pain, which is now owned by Compass Group North America. Panera Bread moved into its new headquarters in Richmond Heights, Missouri in 2000. The company operates or franchises more than 1900 Panera Bread bakery-cafés in 46 states and 20 facilities that deliver fresh dough to the bakery-cafés every day. Panera Bread’s CEO is Ron Shaich.

Panera’s headquarters are in the St. Louis suburb of Sunset Hills. You might think CEO Shaich lives in a tony St. Louis suburb like Ladue…but you’d only be partially correct. He does live in a wealthy suburb — outside of Boston. To his credit, he’s kept the headquarters here for more than two decades. Executives that run the day-to-day business do live here. Panera stock is publicly traded.

More than half of you think the local name should remain St. Louis Bread Company:

Q: Agree or disagree: St. Louis Bread Co locations should go by the name Panera (the name used in the rest of the country?

• Strongly agree 2 [3.77%]
• Agree 4 [7.55%]
• Somewhat agree 3 [5.66%]
• Neither agree or disagree 7 [13.21%]
• Somewhat disagree 3 [5.66%]
• Disagree 10 [18.87%]
• Strongly disagree 24 [45.28%]
• Unsure/No Answer 0 [0%]

I somewhat think they should just all become Panera Bread. Most of the packaging, cups, etc are already the same. The main different is the name on the outside of the building.  I’m not advocating for a change, I just won’t be surprised or upset if they decide to do so in the future.

— Steve Patterson

Sunday Poll: Should St. Louis Bread Co Locations Be Renamed Panera?

For the first 4+ years of the 2000s I worked in Kirkwood. lunch was often at the original location of St. Louis Bread Co. From July 2014:

Saint Louis Bread Co., a national chain with more than 100 bakery-cafes in the St. Louis area alone, opened its first location in Kirkwood in 1987. Panera, as the company is commonly known outside the city, isn’t going anywhere, but that original restaurant is. After almost 30 years, the Kirkwood’s Bread Company is moving in to nicer digs.

The Bread Co. is currently at 10312 Manchester Road, where it has been for the last 27 years. In August it’ll move across the street to 10221 Manchester Road to accommodate a drive-through, among other things. (Riverfront Times)

What do you think? Vote in the poll below:

The poll will close at 8pm.

— Steve Patterson

Perfect Location For Centene’s New Ferguson Claims Center

Earlier this week one local company stepped up to invest in Ferguson:

Centene Corp. has selected Ferguson, the site of unrest for more than three weeks following the police shooting of Michael Brown, as the location for a new claims processing facility, with plans to bring up to 200 jobs to the city. The unrest following Brown’s death prompted Centene to select the city for the expansion. (stltoday)

This is potentially great news! I say potentially because most major call centers fit perfectly in an exurban office park; generic building sounded by massive surface parking lots, all fenced in. Ferguson needs these jobs, but it needs them in an engaged environment. Where? What would it look like? The where is quite simple: Emerson owns the perfect site on the SW corner of W. Florissant & Ferguson Ave., 9001 W. Florissant Ave.

I’m not sure why Emerson bought this property, likely to raze the structure that was on the site as of 1971. Having a neighbor like Centene could be beneficial to Emerson, more workers means more lunch places. Hopefully Emerson would be willing to sell to Centene, or partner on a project to develop the site. And build what?

Ideally the building would be at least two floors, with the first floor for retail. I’d like to see a St. Louis Bread Co (aka Panera*) or Chronicle Coffee on the corner. This would provide additional jobs and more places for these 200 employees and those who work in the area to get breakfast, lunch & dinner. Nearby locally-owned places like Ferguson Burger Bar & More would also benefit. Parking can be located behind the building. If Centene doesn’t need this much space the site could be planned for more than one building facing W. Florissant.  * Disclosure: I have a handful of Panera stock

If Ameren built a new substation at the back corner, an auto entrance could be created at the traffic signal at Solway Ave.

A project at this corner could be a great way to implement East West Gateway’s Great Street master plan for W. Florissant!

— Steve Patterson