Panera Bread to lay off hundreds as it ends fresh dough production nationwide

Panera Bread will permanently shut down its fresh dough production facilities in areas with underperforming locations as part of its nationwide effort to move away from baking bread from scratch in its cafés.

According to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notifications notice earlier this month, a production facility in Brentwood, Missouri, plans to close by Sept. 12, with all 72 employees set to lose their jobs as a result.

As of June 24, four locations across the U.S. have already shut down operations, per Nation’s Restaurant News.

Panera says affected employees will receive a severance package as well as outplacement services.

The Missouri location is the latest in a series of closures the company has undertaken in the last year as it transitions to a new model for how it makes its baked goods. Panera says it plans to shutter all of its remaining fresh dough facilities within the next two years.

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A Panera spokesperson detailed the company’s shift to what it calls its “on-demand” bread production model to Nation’s Restaurant News in April.

Under its previous model, Panera’s fresh dough facilities would mix and shape the dough used for its bread and other baked goods. The dough loaves would then be sent to its cafés, where they would then be proofed and baked in the morning.

But with its new system, third-party contractors prepare the dough instead while following Panera’s recipes and instructions. The dough is then partially baked, or “par-baked,” at those sites before being frozen and shipped to cafés for final baking.

The spokesperson said under the par-baked model, cafés are now able to prepare baked goods throughout the day as needed instead of just in the morning, making them more readily available for customers. They also said the move allows the company to open more stores in the future in places where they couldn’t otherwise because of the limited distances fresh dough facility delivery trucks could travel.

This article originally appeared on USATNetwork: Panera Bread to cut hundreds of jobs in shift to frozen dough model