Panera Bread is ending its long-running scratch baking operations and closing all remaining fresh dough facilities over the next 18 to 24 months, completing a major change in how its bread is made, National Restaurant News reports.

The fast-casual restaurant chain will transition to a par-baked model in which bakery items arrive partially baked from external artisan suppliers and are finished in-store. The shift marks the final stage of a year-long move away from Panera’s traditional fresh dough production.

Brooke Buchanan, Panera’s chief corporate affairs officer, said the change aims to keep baked goods available throughout the day.

“The hardest thing for our team members is to say, ‘No, we’re out of that product,’” Buchanan told NRN . “If you walk into a bakery-cafe at 4 p.m. and

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