Marketing Strategy of the Panera Bread Company

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As mentioned in the case study, Panera Bread Company is known to be one of the leading bakery/café that offers freshly baked pastries and French inspired entrées across various states in the US. However in the recent years, Panera Bread faced a decrease in their usual high growth rate from 9.1% and 12.0% in the year 2000 to merely 0.2% and 0.5% of comparable sales and annualized unit volumes respectively.
The company likewise has already employed various strategies in order to maintain the high growth rate of the company. However these strategies is soon to reach its capacity to ensure growth. Based on the case as well, what seems to be lacking in the strategies that the company employed before is marketing, control of costs, and securing costumer loyalty.
Marketing
The marketing strategy of the Panera Bread Company relies heavily on the experience of each customer that eats in the café. The Company focuses their efforts in providing a milieu of elements that would appeal to the different senses of a customer. Their cafés were design so that each costumer can immerse himself or herself in an unforgettable experience and in doing so, they may endorse it to other people through word of mouth. Aside from this, the company recognizes the importance of sponsoring charity events in creating an image for them. By being visible in these events, the company has utilized not only in the quality of food and service they serve but also their sense of social responsibility, leading to more patronage and customer loyalty.
However, as any other marketing strategy, these become ineffective as time pass by. Because of this, there is a need to explore new strategies that the company hasn’t tapped yet. One of which is getting an ambassador/ e...

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...has been using before. This may become problematic since the strategy is not really that different.
O’Neill likewise mentioned the use of franchising to increase the scope of reach of the company. In my opinion this strategy can be very effective in reaching new market without spending much. By allowing franchises, the company is able to cater to wider market, ensuring the growth of the company in the long run.
In conclusion, the problem of Panera Bread with regards to the declining growth rate can still be addressed if the proper strategies are used to treat the root of the problem. One can say that for Panera, propelling the growth forward lies on the capability and openness of the company to explore strategies that they are not used to.

Bibliography
O'Neill, C., Kouki, Y., Kirby, D., & Titus, C. (2011). Panera Bread Company. Boston: Salem State University.

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