Panera's Turnaround Plan Involves Slicing Its Tomatoes

Your Panera Bread salad will look a little different beginning next year: The cherry tomatoes will finally be sliced, not whole. It's part of a planned turnaround that will see the chain reverse course on cost-cutting moves that shrank its sandwiches and salads—decisions that led to a drop in customers and sales. Panera, once the top fast-casual brand in the US, has slipped to third place behind Chipotle and Panda Express, with sales falling 5% last year to $6.1 billion. Inc. reports its best year was 2023, with $6.5 billion in sales, and that it's aiming to hit $7 billion by 2028.

CEO Paul Carbone, who took over earlier this year, acknowledged that Panera's efforts to save money by reducing food portions and labor have backfired, describing the decline as "death by a thousand paper cuts," reports CNBC. Under a new strategy called "Panera RISE," the company plans moves like refreshing older interiors, putting more money into labor, opening new locations and making its shrunken sandwiches bigger. Carbone flagged those unsliced tomatoes—a move designed to save on labor costs—as problematic. "We make the guest chase the cherry tomato around the bowl," he said.

That's not all: They've had to cut their own avocado halves into bite-size pieces and saw their all-romaine salads turn into half iceberg in the summer of 2024. The lettuce decision has already been walked back. The company also plans to expand its menu and is testing new drinks after discontinuing its controversial highly caffeinated energy drinks, which were linked to lawsuits.