Panera Brands appoints JAB exec Konrad Meyer as CFOPanera Brands appoints JAB exec Konrad Meyer as CFO

Joanna Fantozzi

St. Louis-based Panera Brands — which consists of Panera Bread, Caribou Coffee and Einstein Bros. Bagels — announced the appointment of JAB Holding executive Konrad Meyer as its new chief financial officer, effective Aug. 22.

Meyer, who previously was a partner for UK-based Panera parent company, JAB, will be succeeding Ted Stedem, who served as CFO for three years and is now CFO of delivery startup GoPuff, according to Bloomberg. In addition to the appointment of Meyer, Mark Wooldridge, SVP, controller and chief accounting officer, will act as CFO of the Panera Bread brand.

“Ted has been an outstanding colleague and partner, and we are grateful for his many contributions over the last three years as Panera has continued to thrive and grow,” Niren Chaudhary, CEO of Panera Brands and Panera Bread said in a statement.

“At the same time, we are truly excited to welcome Konrad Meyer as Panera Brands’ Chief Financial Officer. Konrad is a trusted partner and a friend who has extensive industry experience, including numerous financial and investment leadership positions, as well as a deep familiarity with Panera, which will make him a valuable member of our management team as we continue to execute our strategy and build on our leading portfolio of brands.”

In addition to his work at JAB Holding for four years, Meyer also served as interim CFO at Pret a Manger and worked in private equity for several years.

JAB Holding combined Panera Bread, Caribou Coffee, and Einstein Bros. Bagels under one platform in Aug. 2021 and later that fall, announced plans to go public and merge with Danny Meyer SPAC. In July, Panera announced the end of the partnership with Meyer’s special acquisition group “in light of unfavorable economic conditions.”

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