A Panera Bread restaurant in Newington, CT.

By Chris Spiker From Daily Voice

After years of shrinking meals and falling sales, Panera Bread says it's baking some major changes.

The fast-casual restaurant chain announced its turnaround plan called "Panera RISE" on Tuesday, Nov. 18. Panera said its strategy focuses on four "strategic pillars," which include refreshing the menu, igniting value, improving the guest experience, and growing its café footprint.

CEO Paul Carbone said the new plan builds on work already underway to improve food quality and restore consistency across its restaurants.

"Over the past year, we have made considerable progress in strengthening our foundation to better serve our guests," said Carbone. "Panera RISE is a momentum driver, grounded in the areas of differentiation that have made Panera an iconic brand for nearly 40 years. As we transform our business, we are investing in four strategic pillars that put the guest at the very center of everything we do."

The move follows a difficult stretch for Panera.

The chain has fallen from the nation's top fast-casual brand to third place as its sales dropped 5% to $6.1 billion in 2024, CNBC reported. Traffic has been declining for years, and the company faced scrutiny after lawsuits tied to its discontinued Charged Lemonade energy drinks.

Carbone said that Panera's decline wasn't caused by a single misstep but by small cuts that added up over time.

"We squeezed food costs," he told CNBC. "We squeezed labor. It's really about death by a thousand paper cuts. It truly is."

Some of those cuts showed up most clearly in the salads after Panera replaced entirely romaine salads with a half-romaine, half-iceberg mix to save money in 2024.

"You know what guests told us?" Carbone asked. "No one likes iceberg, and no one gets that and says, 'Oh my God, that white salad, it looks so appetizing.'"

Panera will also reverse other cost-saving changes by once again slicing cherry tomatoes and avocados.

"We make the guest chase the cherry tomato around the bowl," Carbone said.

The company said it will reinvest in labor after years of leaning heavily on self-order kiosks, which often left customers waiting for employees. Dining rooms and kiosks will also get updates as part of the café overhaul.

Panera aims to reach more than $7 billion in systemwide sales by 2028 as its RISE strategy rolls out nationwide.