JAB Holding Company, the owner of Panera Bread, also funds the Landecker Foundation, a German group combating antisemitism by funding Hillel, a Zionist group on campus, and cooperating with Hebrew University. Due to this association and the secret funding of JAB Holding to Zionist interests, other groups have raised Panera in the discussion of boycotts. Nonetheless, there is no hard evidence that Panera Bread as a company or brand is supporting Israel or is engaging in close business ties with Israel. Other boycott watchdog organizations believe that Panera is boycott safe since the company has no established direct relationships with Israel.
Knowledge of ownership and the history of Panera Bread
Panera Bread is a global chain of fast-casual restaurants in the US and Canada with over 2,000 locations that specialize in both bakeries and cafes. Fenton, Missouri, is home to its headquarters. With more than 100 stores, the chain is known as Saint Louis Bread Company in the Greater St. Louis region. Among baked goods and pastries, Panera has bagels, brownies, cookies, croissants, muffins, and scones, just to mention a few. Previously a company of Au Bon Pain, Panera Bread is the current possession of JAB Holding Company, which is under the control of the German family of Reimann.
In the past, Panera was the biggest supplier of free Wi-Fi hotspots in the US. After visiting San Francisco’s La Boulanger, a sourdough bakery cafe, at his brother’s request, Ken Rosenthal and Linda Rosenthal established the St. Louis Bread Company in 1987. He spent a year learning how to make sourdough from the owner, Roger Brunello, after becoming enthralled with the process. Kirkwood, Missouri, was the first facility to open. The Small Business Administration provided the Rosenthals with a loan of $150,000, and they invested $150,000.
Is Panera Bread an Israeli business?
The Panera Bread company is not an Israeli one. JAB Holding Company is a Luxembourg-based, privately owned, private equity company that was acquired in 2017 by a rich German family, the Reimanns, and purchased the American bakery-café brand. JAB has Panera, Krispy Kreme, and Peet’s coffee, among other global food and beverage companies. JAB has since acquired Panera, which it bought at a price estimated to be $7.5 billion. Thus, Panera Bread is not owned by an Israeli organization but a private equity organization located in Europe and has its head office in the United States.
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The role of the JAB holding company and the Reimann family
Based on the previously known Paradise Bakery and Cafes, the Panera Bread locations were converted to Panera Bread in September 2015. Panera acquired the majority of Tatte Bakery & Cafe in the fourth quarter of 2015, which was a location concept with bakery-cafes across Boston. Panera opened a cafe in Elyria, Ohio, on March 23, 2016, the 2000th restaurant. In January 2017, Panera claimed it never offered artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners, or preservatives in any of its food. On July 11, 2017, the JAB Holding Company purchased it at a price of 7.5 billion dollars.
On November 8, 2017, Panera announced that the founder of the company, Ron Shaich, would transfer the company to Blaine Hurst, the president of the company, who would then take the role of the chief executive officer. Shaich continued to serve as chairman. The purchase of Au Bon Pain was also announced by the business. In January 2018, Panera sold Shaich’s Tatte Bakery & Café to Act III Holdings, LLC. The company established a consulting firm in January 2018 to assist eateries in eliminating artificial additives from their menus.
At least eight months before the Panera Bread site was shut down, a report by Brian Krebs on April 2, 2018, revealed that between 7 million and 37 million customer records, such as names, email addresses, physical addresses, customer loyalty account numbers, their birthdays, and the last four digits of their credit cards, were breached. Although Panera was privately notified of the vulnerability in August 2017, the company did not act on the vulnerability until it was publicized eight months later. The leak affected fewer than 10,000 customers, according to Panera, and this has been addressed.
Connections between JAB Holding and Zionist organizations
Through its financing of the Landecker Foundation, Panera Bread’s owner, JAB Holding Company, has indirect ties to Zionist groups. A German institution called the Landecker Foundation works with Hebrew University and supports Hillel, a well-known Zionist college organization, in its efforts to combat anti-Semitism. This assistance is a component of JAB’s larger charitable endeavors of Holocaust commemoration and anti-Semitism. The Empire, embodied in the owners of JAB Holding, the Reimann family, also possesses a rather complex past, which has included the exposure of the family to the links with Nazis and involvement in the forced labor during World War II.
Credit: c4israel.org
As a reaction, the family began the Alfred Landecker Foundation, struggling against anti-Semitism and in favor of democracy, reparations, and services to survivors of the Holocaust. The foundation does not directly promote Palestinian causes, but it also finances Zionist groups, Hillel, etc. Consequently, although JAB Holding is not officially a political Zionist corporation, it is being indirectly linked to Zionist agendas by means of the Landecker Foundation, which offers donation funds to Zionist groups as philanthropic money.
Debates around Panera Bread
The company was accused of violating the California Labor Code, failing to pay overtime, failing to offer meal and rest breaks, failing to pay employees upon termination, and violating California’s Unfair Competition Law in class action lawsuits filed by former employees in 2009 and 2011. Panera denied any misconduct and settled all claims for $5 million.
A lawsuit was filed in 2016 when a store clerk in Natick, Massachusetts, spread peanut butter on a sandwich even though they knew the customer had a peanut allergy. In addition to assault and battery, the plaintiffs accused the firm and the relevant workers of purposeful and negligent emotional anguish. The sandwich recipient spent a short time in the hospital.
A former employee filed a racial discrimination complaint in 2011, claiming that he was fired for employing “pretty young girls” as cashiers per supervisor requests and for regularly having a Black guy operate the register rather than placing him in a less noticeable area. The complainant further claimed that after returning from three months of sick leave and asking for an additional month off, he was sacked. The plaintiff “was terminated because he had used all of his medical leave and was unable to return to work,” according to Panera, which “does not discriminate based on national origin, race, or sex.”
Panera Bread’s corporate social responsibility and donation practices
More attention has been paid to Panera Bread’s animal welfare practices, including where it sources its dairy, shellfish, and pig. The company has also loosened its requirements on ingredients, permitting the use of some antibiotics in pigs and turkeys and animal waste in cattle and poultry feed based on internal files acquired by Reuters. Part of Panera Bread’s contribution to fighting global warming includes a promise to be a Cool Food. Panera Bread offers nutritional recommendations to Americans so they can alter their eating habits and contribute to lowering their carbon footprints. The brand employs traffic lights for both harmful and nutritious foods as part of the Cool Foods commitment. Yellow-labeled foods should be eaten sparingly, but green-labeled foods are thought to be healthful. Panera Bread was the first food chain in the US to raise concerns about the safety and environmental friendliness of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) when it declared its policy against their use in 2015.
Political controversies
The corporation declared in August 2022 that it was experimenting with artificial intelligence in its drive-thru lanes at two locations in upstate New York. It made use of Tori, OpenCity’s voice ordering system. Approximately 45% of the chain’s outlets had drive-thrus at the time of the announcement. In addition to other applications of artificial intelligence within the business, the company’s move placed it alongside major food sector companies such as McDonald’s, Burger King, and Taco Bell.
Panera stated in September 2022 that, upon renovation, legacy St. Louis Bread Co. stores outside of St. Louis City and St. Louis County will be renamed as Panera, while those in the metro’s inner core will continue to use the Bread Co. name. The prototype of the next-gen restaurant design is the Panera restaurant in St. Louis County. In the middle of 2023, Panera downsized its headquarters, moving it out of Sunset Hills to Fenton, Missouri, more than halving the size of its headquarters.
The company announced in July 2025 that it was continuing its 2024-started shift to a “par-baked” strategy for its restaurants, closing its existing dough-making facilities and laying off staff. Under this technique, restaurants receive frozen bread that has been partially baked and finished in-store rather than freshly produced every day. According to reports, the firm has also been reversing its “clean food guidelines,” which formerly supported positions against hormones, antibiotics, and animal welfare.
