BizBeat: Panera set for Wednesday reopening

Oscar Diaz and Phuong Huynh, right, place sod while Jill Anderson, owner of Great Impressions, LLC, carries another roll. They were working at the new Jefferson City location of Panera Bread at 2214 Missouri Blvd., preparing for the Wednesday reopening.
Oscar Diaz and Phuong Huynh, right, place sod while Jill Anderson, owner of Great Impressions, LLC, carries another roll. They were working at the new Jefferson City location of Panera Bread at 2214 Missouri Blvd., preparing for the Wednesday reopening.

Bagel lovers, rejoice - your week in the desert will end soon.

After a week closed for business and several months of construction, Panera Bread is set to open in its new Jefferson City location Wednesday.

The new restaurant at 2214 Missouri Blvd., on the site of the former Yen Ching, which closed in June 2014 and was demolished that fall, features a drive-thru and expanded parking.

"It's Panera's newest and most contemporary-looking prototype," said Greg Anderson, president of Ozark Breads Inc., which owns Panera Bread franchises in Jefferson City, Osage Beach, Rolla and St. Robert.

The former Panera location, a few doors down at 2226 Missouri Blvd., closed for business last Tuesday to allow time for the move.

"It'll be a little different than what probably Jeff City's used to," Anderson said. "It will not have a meeting room, although there are plenty of spaces to have get-togethers."

Along with adding the drive-thru, the local Panera also will continue its "Rapid Pick-Up" service, which allows customers to place their orders online to have them ready to go when they arrive at the front of the restaurant.

"Another feature with the new one is that it will all be delivered to the table," Anderson said, noting the local Panera previously had customers pick up their meals from the end of the service counter. "This deliver-to-the-table system uses a transmitter at the table to send the location to our expediter, and then the expediter delivers the food to your table. So basically you pay for it, you go get your drink at the drink station and go sit down."

In terms of square footage, the new Panera is actually smaller than the old one.

"We expect that there will be some relief inside because of the drive-thru outside," Anderson said.

The new restaurant was built to accommodate other planned improvements to come in the next year or so.

"We're preparing for additional technology changes. We've got provisions in the store for that when it happens," Anderson said, noting customers eventually will be able to order from their tables.

The new Panera Bread will open for regular operating hours Wednesday.

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