Panera Bread

We are bakers of bread. We are fresh from the oven. We are a simple pleasure, honest and genuine. We are a life story told over dinner. We are a long lunch with an old friend. We are your weekday morning ritual. We are the kindest gesture of neighbors.
We are home. We are family. We are friends.

Panera Bread is a culture of warmth that provides an environment which allows us to be ourselves while embracing diverse backgrounds, values, and beliefs. Your talents and our vision combine to provide opportunities that promote your individual development and our continued success.

Clean, Fresh Ingredients Selected for Quality
We’ve often been asked why we’re obsessed with clean food. Clean simply means we don’t fill our pantry with artificial preservatives, sweeteners, and flavors, along with colors from artificial sources that are detailed on our No-No List. It’s because we believe clean food tastes better, allowing the freshness, quality, flavors, and craft to shine through. At the end of 2020, Plant-based dishes accounted for 25% of our menu. In the coming years, our long-term aspiration is to have a menu where half of our entrees are Plant-based, starting with one new option in every menu category.

Respect for the Planet
In October 2021, Panera Bread committed to becoming Climate Positive by 2050. Panera will set a Science-Based Target (SBT) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions throughout our operations and within our supply chain. Our work has already begun and includes projects such as creating low-carbon Cool Food Meals, investing in more efficient equipment, and shrinking our packaging footprint.

Creating a guest-focused experience
Whether our customers stop by for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or something in between, Panera is a place where they can relax with family and friends or catch a quiet moment alone to recharge. We want Panera to be their everyday oasis, a refuge, a second home. With every interaction, our goal is to create a genuine human connection with our customers, one based on kindness and respect. We aim to provide every guest with a welcoming and personalized experience no matter whether they order in a bakery-cafe or online.

The workplace culture we cultivate is based on warmth. We also want every associate to feel a sense of
Building Your Career at Panera
Panera attracts many ambitious and talented associates who are eager to grow their careers. Under the guidance of our general managers, our cafe associates receive training, have development opportunities, and are advised on their career pathing.

Friends in Knead
Friends in Knead is a 501(c)(3) organization that provides critically needed assistance to Panera associates facing unexpected hardships such as household disasters, funeral expenses, or emergency travel expenses. It has traditionally been funded through voluntary donations made by associates. In 2020, Friends in Knead gave 116 grants totaling just over $186,000.

We have been serving communities in need for over 35 years. We have continued to serve, connect, and support local community organizations through donations, fundraising, and grant opportunities. Through our Day-End Dough-Nation program, we annually donate more than $100 million of our unsold bread and bakery products to our local hunger-relief non-profit organizations.

Our vision is to create a healthier and happier world through service to our communities.

What’s in it for me?
The health and well-being of our associates are a priority at Panera Bread. We offer competitive compensation and benefits to both our hourly and salaried associates.

Pay + Benefits
Competitive pay + share of daily tips
Medical, dental, vision, life insurance
401(k) with company match available
Benefits open to domestic partnerships
Discounts on electronics, entertainment, and more
Flexible schedule
A culture of warmth, belonging, growth, and trust

Food
Free on-shift meals (up to $20 value)
50% off “Bread Bucks” purchase

Development
Comprehensive learning journey
Career paths for every position
Elective training

What are we about?
Innovation
Fast “farm to fork” supply chain
Clean Ingredients
First national restaurant chain to post calories on menu panels and offer chicken raised without antibiotics

Impact
Largest loyalty program with 45.4 million MyPanera subscribers
18 Fresh Dough Facilities
Over 1,000 company cafes
50,000 team members
128,000,000 bagels and 36,500,000 baguettes produced yearly

Investment
Over $100 million in bread and baked goods donated annually through Day-End Dough-Nation to over 3500 local non-profits
Fundraising in each café, donating up to 20% of sales to local non-profits.

Inclusion
Committed to an inclusive diverse workplace with bold goals
6 Business Resource Groups to support our associates, including BLAAC, ENABLED, Multicultural Networking, Pride Alliance, Women’s Network, and Salute
Partnerships with local and national organizations such as The Trevor Project

Rise with unlimited possibilities at Panera! There are lots of great opportunities to start your career, whether you want to work directly with guests or behind the scenes.

Our café roles include Cashiers, Salad & Sandwich Makers, Bakers, Baker Training Specialists, Catering Leads/Coordinators, and Shift Supervisors.

We strive to provide a warm and welcoming environment not only for our guests, but also for our associates. As a manager, you are on the front lines to deliver great food, service, and experience. As we continue to grow, it means new opportunities for advancement since we love to keep our best part of the Panera family.

While other companies may call it “Corporate Headquarters” to us, it’s our Support Center – providing support to each of our bakery-cafes across North America. With over 2,100 locations in the U.S. and Canada under the names of Panera Bread®, Saint Louis Bread Co.®, and Paradise Bakery & Cafe®, our Support Center is home to the essential functions that help the bakery-cafes better serve our guests.

Whether your heart lies in marketing, quality assurance, IT, or associate development, our support centers host several opportunities for a variety of career options.

Let’s make dough, bread, or both! Our Fresh Dough Manufacturing Facility teams produce all of the bread, bagel, and roll dough for our bakery-cafes. By joining the manufacturing side of Panera, you play an essential role in what we do – baking great bread from fresh dough.

Our FDF team includes more than 1,600 team members and is made up of diverse associates who speak over 17 different languages. Since bread is our business and passion, our manufacturing facilities operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days per year. Our delivery trucks travel more than 22 million miles annually to ensure fresh dough is delivered to each bakery-café.