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Ron Ruggless
Panera Bread Co. this week completed the rollout of its MyPanera customer-loyalty program, which offers such rewards as personal cooking sessions with bakers and receiving preview samples of new menu items.
“Our brand has always demonstrated value to be far more than price,” said Bill Moreton, Panera’s president and chief executive. “So unlike the typical buy-10-get-one-free-type loyalty programs, MyPanera is focused on fostering unique relationships with our customers through deeply understanding how each guest enjoys and interacts with Panera today and new ways they might like to in the future.”
The program has been in test for 18 months and has more than 2 million members, the company said.
MyPanera offers program members exclusive invitations, recipes and free menu items, and is designed to become increasingly personalized the more visits a member makes.
The program has its own website, www.MyPanera.com, which features profiles of frequent guests and allows members to track their rewards.
Panera, which is based in St. Louis, reported that net income in the third quarter ended Sept. 28 rose 20.7 percent, to $22.8 million, or 75 cents per share, from $18.9 million, or 61 cents a share, in last year’s quarter. Revenue rose 11 percent to nearly $372 million, from $335 million a year earlier. Same-store sales rose 6.9 percent.
Panera operated 1,421 restaurants at the end of the quarter.
Contact Ron Ruggless at [email protected].
