Panera Bread Company

With over 2,000 bakery-cafes nationwide, Panera leads by example in the fast-casual restaurant category by providing good-for-you food while doing good in every community they serve.

Role

  • Website Design
  • Website Development
  • Web Application Development

Industry

  • Consumer Products
  • Food + Beverage
Our work with Panera Bread Company includes website design and web application development to promote, coordinate, and execute their cafe events.

The Challenge

Offering a wide assortment of healthy salads, sandwiches and fresh-baked breads, it’s no wonder the chain is a popular choice for hosting fundraising events and baking classes for kids.

Panera approached us to improve the processes they use to manage these programs and to help them connect with their local communities.

We designed a mobile-responsive landing page to promote Panera Bread Company's Bakers in Training events.

Our Approach

Previously, all events at Panera bakery-cafes were booked by one person in the corporate office. As the programs expanded, we partnered with Panera to explore an automated, data-driven process for booking, managing and measuring the success of each of these events.

Web Design + Development

We designed and developed two microsites: one for Panera’s Bakers in Training program and one for its fundraising events featuring information about each program, FAQs and even custom videos. These microsites make it easy for users to learn about and book events at their local bakery-cafe.

We designed two mobile responsive landing pages for Panera Bread Company to promote their Panera Fundraising and Bakers in Training events. The landing pages were developed to allow users to register for events, and it ties directly in with the web application that was developed to manage the events.
Panera Bread Company offers a Bakers in Training event.
Panera Bread Company hosts Bakers in Training events where children can learn the process of baking fresh bread.

Technology Development

Using our custom web forms, users are able to select a program, find their local bakery-cafe using a Google Maps plugin and provide all the necessary information needed to book an event online – even on their mobile device.

On the backend, we built a custom suite of tools designed to manage events from signup to completion. Detailed monitoring analytics and a built-in dashboard allow bakery-cafe owners to easily view their store’s upcoming events and make changes as necessary. Our tools also plugged in to Panera’s accounting systems, automating charity payments to ensure fundraising organizations are paid properly and promptly.

Our website application development work for Panera Bread Company streamlines the process of scheduling and managing events.
Our web application development for Panera Bread Company allows insights into participating cafes, sales reporting, and event success.

Data Collection

We also built in robust functionality for Panera administrators to view the information captured by the web forms. This allows Panera to automate customer and store communications and handle company-wide cafe calendar updates–all through a sleek, mobile-responsive user interface.

Users are able to schedule Bakers in Training events through the landing pages that tie into the event manager web application.
Ou web application for Panera Bread Company streamlines the event scheduling process with dedicated landing pages, automated email notifications, and a platform to record event sales.

Results

Now with two fully functional microsites, Panera is able to introduce more kids to the joys of baking and help non-profits raise a little more dough.

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  • 39% Year over year event increase (2016 vs. 2017)
  • 18% Increase in sales surrounding events
  • 30% Year over year increase in donations from Panera

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