Ron Shaich Turned Baguettes Into a Platform to Beat Pepsi
Ron Shaich watched customers hack Au Bon Pain baguettes into sandwiches. That shift created fast-casual dining and beat Pepsi.
Panera: Ron Shaich. The Big Bet That Changed Fast Food (2018)
With Guy Raz, Ron Shaich · Wednesday, November 11, 2026
Ron Shaich recounts his entrepreneurial journey from running a student convenience store and a Boston cookie shop to co-founding and scaling Au Bon Pain into a publicly traded bakery-cafe chain. He explains the pivotal, high-stakes decision to sell Au Bon Pain in order to pour all company resources into expanding Panera Bread into a national powerhouse. Shaich also reflects on using a contrarian strategy to expand aggressively during the 2008 recession and why he ultimately sold Panera to JAB Holding to escape Wall Street's short-term pressures.
Key takeaways
- Ron Shaich discovered the fast-casual category by watching Au Bon Pain customers bring their own cold cuts into the store to make sandwiches with sliced baguettes. Read more →
- Before 2008, restaurant chains borrowed money to buy back stock and sign expensive leases, but Panera preserved cash and refused to overpay. Read more →
- Ron Shaich turned a 400-square-foot Boston cookie shop into controlling ownership of Au Bon Pain by solving an idle morning counter problem. Read more →
- In 2017, Ron Shaich sold Panera Bread to JAB Holding and stepped down as CEO to escape Wall Street quarterly earnings pressure. Read more →
4 articles from this episode
Why Panera Opened a Store Every Three Days in 2008
Ron Shaich explains how Panera tripled its stock during the 2008 recession by buying discounted real estate while competitors cut costs.
Ron Shaich: How to Buy 60% of Your Supplier
Ron Shaich turned an idle morning cookie counter into 60% control of Au Bon Pain. Here is how he fixed operations and acquired a brand.
Ron Shaich Took Panera Private to Protect Multi-Year Bets
Ron Shaich sold Panera Bread to JAB Holding in 2017 because public markets force CEOs to cut costs instead of building for the future.
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