Executive Summary
The idea of the business plan lies in the opening of a new location of the existing business, Panera Bread Corporation, in London, England. Due to the fact, that the company represents a famous member of bakery-café segment of fast food service industry in the U.S., there is a possibility for the business to grow globally and to enter European market.
The following business plan covers major topics that are of high importance for every business. First, it is important to define mission statement of the business, because mission and vision of the company define what a business is and where it wants to move throughout its activities. Consequently, mission statement for a new Panera Bread location is “Panera Bread aims to deliver a unique experience of bakery-café, and to provide people with fresh and high quality foods. Our mission is to give everyone the opportunity to taste our delicious bread products”. Vision statement, in turn, is “Delicious bread and meals for everyone to enjoy a real experience of a bakery-café”.
The next step is the description of a venture product and of the location. Panera Bread in London will offer a wide assortment of meals, bread and bakery products, together with various hot and cold beverages. In addition, it will have a kids menu. The location of the venue will be in the center of one of the touristic capitals in Europe, London.
In order to prosper, it will be important for Panera in London to maintain competitive advantage. The fact that ‘mother’ company of this business successfully manages to differentiate from competitors and has a firm base of loyal customers will help a new venue to base its operations on the principles of ‘mother’ organization.
New Panera Bread will use investments in order to finance the opening of the business. Moreover, in order to attract customers and to have loyal consumers, the company will actively invest in marketing.
Introduction
The major idea behind this business plan is to open a franchise restaurant of an existing company Panera Bread in Europe. Currently Panera Bread is operating only on the territory of the United States and in Ontario, Canada. The business is growing at the fast manner and is opening new locations in different corners of the country. As of the end of the year 2015, Panera had more than 1900 locations all over USA and in Ontario (Panerabread.com).
The company represents a chain of bakery-cafes, where customers can purchase cold and hot beverages, along with various meals, starting with fresh bakery products and continuing to delicious salads and soups. Panera Bread is famous around the nation for its atmosphere and affordable prices. Panera Bread constantly launches various campaigns, the purpose of which to spread the word about the company and to raise awareness about various types of issues that are emerging in the modern society. In such a way, Panera Bread is a company that is operating almost 2000 bakery-cafes, where every visitor can enjoy delicious high quality food, excellent service and unforgettable atmosphere (Panerabread.com).
As far as Panera Bread is a successful company and has its locations only in North America, there is an opportunity for the company’s expansion. Therefore, a business plan will talk about a new Panera location in London, England. Without any doubt, there are many various bakery-café chains all over Europe, and the competition is quite harsh. Still, Panera Bread has a benefit, because it has a long history of successful operations and the company has created a positive image in the eyes of the consumers. Though Europe is a completely different target market, people always purchase delicious bakery products and other foods. The food in Panera Bread is not an American cuisine, and it will work for European market. Moreover, a franchise in London will work under all of the rules of the company and the professionals will cook the food in accordance with all the guidelines, so that people in Europe can feel the real atmosphere of a famous Panera Bread Corporation.
Mission Statement
Panera Bread has a published mission statement, which the company also identifies as its purpose. The mission and purpose of Panera Bread states: “a loaf of bread in every arm” (Farfan, 2015). This mission statement represents the company and its major purpose of operations. However, for a new franchise in Europe, as a new business, it will be necessary to design a new mission statement.
In such a way, a mission statement for a new Panera Bread Corporation division in London, England, is:
“Panera Bread aims to deliver a unique experience of bakery-café, and to provide people with fresh and high quality foods. Our mission is to give everyone the opportunity to taste our delicious bread products”.
In order to achieve its mission for a new franchise location in Europe Panera Bread will highlight the following aspects of its activities:
Community – we create a comfortable relaxing environment and try to make a difference for the community
Nutrition – our foods are made of only fresh ingredients and are composed in a way that will provide our customers with rich nutrition
Accountability – you can rely on us in every aspect of each activity we perform and food we offer
Opportunity – we want every to have the chance to experience Panera Bread and we launch special project that serve as means to achieve that
Vision Statement
A vision statement for a franchise of Panera Bread in London, England, will be the following:
“Delicious bread and meals for everyone to enjoy a real experience of a bakery-café”.
The next important steps in setting a new business in London, England, which will become a representative of an American chain of bakery cafes Panera Bread, are to identify in details the product of service that the company will be offering in a new venue and to describe its actual location and layout of the business.
Venture Product
The first step is to observe in details the products and services that Panera Bread is offering to its clients in its ‘mother’ country’. As previous section of the work mention, Panera Bread is a chain of bakery cafes that offers a wide range of products, among which there are: soups, salads, various sandwiches & Panini, pastas, pastries, kid’s meals, low calorie options, and bakery products. Besides food items there is a big selection of tea and coffee and other beverages, that customers can enjoy with their delicious meals. Nevertheless, the uniqueness of Panera Bread lies in the fact that it offers not only high quality and great in taste foods and drinks, but it also provides a great atmosphere. Panera Bread creates experience; it creates positive emotions and impressions from visiting one of its bakery cafes (Panerabread.com).
In such a way, we can say that Panera Bread sells various types of meals, the ingredients for which go through careful selection, along with the atmosphere that it creates for the customers with its values and principles, and with simple interior and flavors in the company’s venues. Panera Bread is working in a fast food service industry, so it offers a quick service, and it works on minimizing the waiting time.
Therefore, a new venture of Panera Bread in London will be also working as a fast food service entity, and it will be offering high quality products with a high quality assistance from the salespersons. Panera Bread in London will continuously work on creating a warm and friendly atmosphere in its new venture, so that every visitor can feel the smell and the feeling of real bread. With its delicious handmade bakery and pastry products, and with other meals, Panera Bread in London will become a great example of a fabulous bakery-café.
The next step is discussing the location of a new business entity and going through the layout. As far as Panera Bread represents a famous company and already has its history record on the territory of United States, it will be logical to open a new bakery café in the city center of London. There are many touristic places in London, and many people go through the center every day. Moreover, there are office buildings, which also creates potential clients in the faces of workers who would go for lunch. Thus, city center offers a wide variety of possibilities for Panera Bread.
A new venue of Panera Bread should represent classic Panera interior, but at the same time, it should add something personal, that will associate this particular bakery café with London and with this specific experience. For instance, thematic pictures on the walls or coffee cups with some national slogans, as, “God, save the Queen”, will work in both a friendly manner and will give another reminder about the city you currently are. Panera Bread will serve meals and drinks on both “on-sight” and “to-go” basis, so that customers will have a choice. The venue will have several tables with small comfortable armchairs. Every table will have bread sticks, which is a common appetizer in many restaurants, but those bread sticks will also represent a symbol of Panera with ‘bread’. With specific interior items and with special training of the working personnel Panera Bread in London will work on becoming one of the best within the industry. Polite and attentive employees, high quality delicious foods, pleasant and modern interior and warm atmosphere, together with any food preferences you have, will put new Panera Bread in London on the first places.
Competitive Analysis
The level of competition in the food service industry is extremely high. Ron Shaich, the chairman and CEO of Panera Bread on the territory of the United States and Canada, in his interview with Business Week Journal stated that the aspect that Panera Bread was always oriented on the long-term helped them to overcome competition during the recession, which significantly increased the revenues and margins. In a current environment with intense competition, it is essential to possess the competitive advantage. Shaich says that the launch of MyPanera (special application for customers that helps Panera to get to learn customers’ preferences) made a significant contribution to the operation of the company. With this system, when almost 50% of the customers are making their transactions with the member cards, it became easier to trace customers’ preferences and identify their needs (Brustein, 2013). Thus, Panera Bread has an opportunity of offering various options to various people, and is continuously improving and enriching its assortment.
New location of Panera Bread in London, England, will work based on the campaign of the ‘mother’ company and it will actively implement all the practices and principles that Panera is employing in its current locations. Fast-food service industry is an industry with high competition and there are existing competitors on the territory of London that will represent a significant threat for a new Panera’s location. As far as Panera Bread is competing with special foods, quick-service restaurant retailers, its closest competitors are McDonalds and Starbucks that have a world popularity and have numerous location in England (Frechette, 2013).
In such a way, it is crucial for a new Panera’s location to maintain strong competitive advantage and to position itself as a leader in the sector of bakery-cafés. Taking into consideration the history of the whole corporation, we can see that Panera Bread has a firm position in the competitive environment of food services industry. Panera represents a niche type of market, and it continues to grow for a long period of time already and up to this day. The approach that is oriented on the customers’ experience has formed strong and trust relationships of Panera Bread with customers, and will contribute to the strengthening of the position of Panera in London.
Management Team
The next point in the business plan for a new location of Panera Bread in London, England, is the description of the management team. Panera Bread, as a large company with quite a long history has an established management team that has been working out for the company for many years already.
Panera Bread Company is operating as a member of limited liability company, Panera LLC. Panera Bread is a corporation and is a publicly traded company. Therefore, it can issue stock to shareholders. The company is operating as the three business segments: bakery-café operations, fresh dough and other products operations, and franchise-owned operations. The venues of Panera Bread are located in various areas, both urban and suburban territories (Long). Therefore, we can make a conclusion that a new location in London will represent franchise-owned operations of Panera Bread as a member of LLC.
The official website of Panera Bread Company provides information about its corporate culture. The focus of Panera Bread is on people and their experiences. The main feature of Panera’s corporate culture is good and warm relationships with employees. The company makes sure that all the associates have a good training, and it insures that all the employees get the appropriate attitude, with no discrimination and violations. Panera Bread cares about is employees and about its customers. Moreover, Panera Bread cares about the community and wants to improve the life of every individual by providing special offers and programs and by launching MyPanera project that helps to meet customers’ needs and preferences more closely. Moreover, Panera cares about the health and well-being of its employees and associates, and therefore, provides full social packages to its workers. The compensation of Panera employees is quite competitive and the company offers its workers various benefits that include life insurance, disability program, employee discount program, medical, dental and vision insurance, retirement plan, and incentive programs (Panerabread.com). In such a way, new location of Panera Bread in London will work under the same company’s culture priorities and will do its best to create a strong working team.
Financial Analysis
Opening of a new business almost always requires significant financial resources. In order to develop financing strategies and to observe potential profitability of your business, it is useful to take a brief look at the financial statements estimations of your business. Panera Bread is a public company, and we can find the financial statements of the company in the web. A new location of Panera in London, England, will become a part of the whole corporation, because it will be operating on franchise basis. It is obvious, that this new entity will have its own finances and will be striving to generate enough revenues in order to cover the costs and to gain sufficient profits. However, it is important to remember that the start of this business will involve significant costs, because it is necessary to choose the location, to rent the building, to hire the employees and to set all the process so that the business will be operating efficiently throughout time. Thus, taking into consideration all the costs, we should say that new Panera in London will be covering all the initial costs with its revenues throughout the first months of operation, and it is hard to estimate at what moment it will meet its breakeven point.
At this point, it will be useful to take a look at the major financial indicators of Panera Bread, ‘mother’ company of new London entity, in order to see how the company is doing overall and whether its financial results are satisfactory for the stakeholders.
Income statement of Panera Bread reveals a steady growth of total revenues for the period from the year 2011, as well as a steady growth in net income of the company. In such a way, its revenues have increased from $1 822 032 thousands in the year 2011 to $2 529 195 thousands in 2014, and net income, in turn, from $135 192 thousands in 2011 to $179 193 thousands in 2014 (Nasdaq.com). Those numbers shows that the company manages to cover its costs successfully and generates significant profits. Nevertheless, it does not mean that all of the locations of Panera are operating successfully, because it represents general picture, and every of its items is a separate entity with its financials.
A new location of Panera Bread will try to attract as many customers as possible and to build a base of loyal customers in order to increase sales and to have a consistent flow of customers. In such a way, it will set a goal of meeting breakeven point after 4 months of operations, and after this period, it will start to generate enough revenues to have sufficient profits. Therefore, we can say that it will be extremely useful to analyze the financial statements of ‘mother’ company, to look at the financial ratios, such as liquidity and profitability, and to observe balance sheets carefully. It is important in order to have a picture of the financial side of the company, and to see, in which environment Panera Bread in London will be performing.
Another crucial point is to find the resources for the opening of a new business entity. There are various options, such as looking for investors, who will be willing to invest in your business or taking loans that will give you enough resources for the opening. It is hard to judge which of the options better, and every particular case has particular circumstances. In case of new location of Panera Bread in London, England, it will be useful to attract investors, because a ‘mother’ company has a positive image in the eyes of stakeholders, shows good financial results and represents a company with a successful history of performance and numerous locations. In such a way, we should say that Panera in London would try to attract investments from outside in order to finance the opening of the entity. Relying on the financial information of the whole corporation, we can make a good proposition for the investors, because they will see that there are positive prospects for the new location.
Marketing Strategy
Marketing is an essential tool for every business, and it is crucial for a new business to think through effective marketing strategies in order to promote a company and its activities throughout population and to attract as many customers a possible.
New Panera Bread location will concentrate its marketing activities based on the success of ‘mother’ company that has gained its popularity and has created a positive image in the eyes of stakeholders throughout the years of operations. Panera Bread in London will start entering the masses in online social platforms that became extremely popular within modern population. Panera Bread London will actively use Facebook in order to let people know about their business, as well as they will use other modern web sites, such as Twitter and Instagram. In addition, management team of a new location in England will create a video advertising and they will spread it through online social platforms.
In such a way, we can see that Panera’s new venue will use marketing methods that do not require significant financial investments. Still, marketing is essential and it should take a significant place in the opening of a new business. Consequently, Panera in London will create special programs for the customers in order to reach a wider part of population and in order to bring value to the society. For instance, new Panera Bread venue can offer bonus cards and special cards for loyal customers, which will provide special menu items and free items under certain conditions. Moreover, the company can use special campaigns for kids and can create a small art room, where kids can draw or play, while their parents enjoy the food and the atmosphere of the bakery-café.
Thus, marketing in new Panera in London, England, will take a significant part and will be important throughout the business’ existence. Making a strong emphasis on advertising from the very beginning and keeping up with it during work will help the company to maintain competitive advantage and to differentiate from the competitors.
Conclusion
Panera Bread is a large corporation that currently operates on the territory of United States and Canada. A business proposition is to establish a new location of Panera Bread in London, England, which will introduce the concept of American bakery-café to one of the world’s touristic centers and will give a start to the expansion of the operations of Panera to the global level.
In previous sections, we have covered various aspects that concern the opening of a new location of the existing business. The main concept in a new venue in London will be the concept that the ‘mother’ company is using through years of its operations, as it has proved its efficiency and predisposition for success. New Panera Bread in London will be working as a member of fast food service industry, but at the same time, it will serve only high quality foods from best ingredients, offering a wide assortment and an unbelievably warm atmosphere for its customers.
New location in England will continuously work on gaining competitive advantage and on establishing a strong position within the market. It is crucial for this business to differentiate its activities and to bring real value to the society. Consequently, it will be essential for a new business entity to keep up with the trends, to offer benefits for the customers, to work on the creation of the base of loyal customers, and to offer high quality menu items at affordable prices, in order to increase the size of the potential target market. New Panera’s location will use the main principles and ideas of the ‘mother’ company and it will make a careful analysis of the internal and external factors. It will help to gain knowledge and in order to see what the strong sides of the company are and what the points, at which the leaders of a new venture should highly concentrate, are.
Throughout the work on the business plan for a new Panera Bread location in London, England. We have also looked at financial analysis of the company and at its potential sources of generating capital for the opening. Thus, we have observed that the financial situation of the ‘mother’ company is in favorable position, and that one of the ways of financing a new entity is to attract resources. In such a way, Panera’s English venue will require precise work and concentration and it implies that the leaders of this entity should work with the ‘mother’ company and with help of its authority. Still, it is crucial not to forget to keep up with this authority and with a strong positive image about Panera Bread that is already established on the territories of company’s current operations.
Besides those points, we have covered other aspects, such as the description of the future location in England, the observation of a management team and competitive analysis of the business. Many other tiny issues appear in the establishment process of every business. It is not possible to calculate everything precisely, because many aspects turn out to happen during the process and there are many unexpected points that will require additional attention throughout the work. This is why, planning plays a crucial role, but you always have to be ready for emergencies and have to have a plan on how to manage the crisis and how to solve challenging problems.
Therefore, it is worth to state that new Panera Bread location will do its best to become the leading within bakery-café industry in London, England. It will constantly work on meeting customers’ needs and on bringing value to the society. Careful work and attention to the details together with professional personnel and strong company’s values and principles will contribute to the development of Panera’s new entity and will offer further possibilities for the expansion in Europe.
References
Brustein, J. (2013, October 03). Panera Bread CEO Ron Shaich on Restaurant Industry Competitiveness. Retrieved February 09, 2016, from http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-10-03/panera-bread-ceo-ron-shaich-on-restaurant-industry-competitiveness
Farfan, B. (2015, November 20). Panera Bread's Restaurant Mission Statement - It's All About Bread at Panera. Retrieved January 16, 2016, from http://retailindustry.about.com/od/retailbestpractices/ig/Company-Mission-Statements/Panera-Bread-Mission-Statement.htm
Frechette, J. (2013, February 26). Panera. Retrieved February 09, 2016, from http://www.slideshare.net/jefffrechette/panera-16785260
Long, N. (n.d.). Organizational Structure of Panera Bread. Retrieved February 09, 2016, from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/organizational-structure-panera-bread-10391.html
Our History. (n.d.). Retrieved January 16, 2016, from https://www.panerabread.com/en-us/company/about-panera/our-history.html
Panera Bread. (n.d.). Retrieved February 03, 2016, from https://www.panerabread.com/en-us/home.html
Panera Bread Company 2014 Annual Report to Stockholders. (2015, April 16). Retrieved February 9, 2016, from https://www.panerabread.com/content/dam/panerabread/documents/financial/2015/2014-annual-report.pdf
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